The Locker
by Isis123
Summary: "Some people are just mean. There's no deep seeded family secret. No heart of gold under a ruff, misunderstood exterior. They're mean because they can be." Rachel and Puck grow closer as the bullying  at McKinely escalates.
1. Chapter 1

(Short) Prologue:

"Some people are just mean. There's no deep seeded family secret. No heart of gold under a ruff, misunderstood exterior. They're mean because they can be. Thomas is one of those people –"

"But-," Rachel interrupted.

"No, Rachel. I'm serious. Leave this alone. Let the school handle it."

Chapter 1

Rachel Berry was not a quiet person, nor was she known for her ability to remain stationary. However, when she walked up to her locker early Monday morning only to find that it had been defaced, she found herself speechless and incapable of taking her eyes off of the disgusting symbol. As more and more students began to trickle into the halls of McKinley, Rachel shook herself out of her stupor and darted to the janitor's closet.

Over at the student parking lot, Kurt Hummel quickly exited his stepbrother's car, eager to showoff his new Prada polo. It was a knockoff, but Kurt was confident that there were no fashion connoisseurs in Lima, Ohio savvy enough to out his black "Praba" with red stitching. In all honesty, Kurt sometimes doubted that anyone in Lima even knew what Prada was period. The soprano entered the high school without fear of his new top being ruined by a slushy attack; ever since David Karofsky and Santana Lopez established Bully Whips he felt untouchable. It also didn't hurt that he was now related to the school quarterback and that his number one tormentor had transformed into his number one protector.

Seeing as it was still early, Kurt knew the only person who could appreciate his outfit at his hour would be his best friend Rachel Berry, despite the fact that she was fashionably challenged herself. When Kurt turned the corner he saw his fellow diva furiously scrubbing the door of her locker. The other students near by all seemed to be wrapped up in the their own conversations, filling each other in on weekend activities. Curious as to why Rachel had suddenly decided to emulate Ms. Pillsbury, he hastened his steps.

"Rachel, Figgins is cheap, but there are actual janitors on the payroll," Kurt joked as he approached her. Rachel, for her part, didn't even realize someone had approached her, let alone spoken to her; all she could focus on was getting the mark off of her locker. When Kurt saw that his friend was actually upset, he glanced at what she was so rigorously trying to wipe away. There, although slightly faded thanks to ten minutes worth of continuous scrubbing, was a large black tilted swastika. Kurt didn't know what to say. He placed his arm on Rachel's shoulder, stilling her actions. Realizing her friend was by her side, Rachel looked up at Kurt and he could see her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"It actually means 'good luck'." When in doubt Rachel resorted to rambling.

"It's a pretty ancient symbol. If you go to India the temples - it doesn't matter if they're Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist - they practically all have them. Actually, Native Americans also-"

"Are you ok," Kurt interrupted her. She just shook her head side to side and that's all the prompting Kurt needed to wrap his arms around her. As her frienemy-turned-best-friend hugged her tightly, Rachel let the tears falls.

"Hey what happened?" Finn asked when he saw his stepbrother hugging his ex-girlfriend as her shoulders shook. Reluctantly, Rachel let go of Kurt and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. Finn appeared to be visibly bothered that something had brought Rachel to tears. Even though he was now back together with Quinn, Finn, after dealing with his issues over having another girlfriend cheat on him (with the same guy), had formed and maintained a strictly platonic (Rachel's word not his) friendship with his former flame.

"It's nothing, Finn," Rachel said, "just the actions of an obviously ignorant, troubled, and restless juvenile." However, Finn looked unconvinced, probably because Rachel's sniffles seemed determined to undermine her efforts of reassuring the tall teenager that everything was all right. Looking at Kurt for answers, the smaller gleek simply gestured to the locker with his head.

"The Hitler symbol!" Finn exclaimed – how was William McKinley High School an "A" school? Rachel blushed as the other students around turned to look at the three friends and the faded swastika. The atmosphere suddenly had a weird twinge to it. While the status quo had all but numbed the student body to bullying, seeing the school's biggest loser's locker spray-painted with an image that had come to represent one of the most hateful and murderous regimes in history seemed to unnerve many of the usually jaded teens.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed or added the story to either their alerts or favorites – seriously, best feeling ever (or at least top 5)! Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, the story is set post **_**Born this Way**_**. I don't own Glee and so far I'm not emotionally invested in any of these teachers I made up so if you want to use their names go right ahead. Also I'm not 100% sure what language constitutes an M rating so if you think I should bump the rating up a notch let me know. Thank you all again! **

At 9:10, a full hour and twenty-five minutes after classes had begun, Noah Puckerman entered McKinley High School. Although the self-proclaimed badass wanted people to think his tardiness was his way of sticking it to "the man", the truth was that Puck had first and second periods free on Mondays. As he walked by the clear windows of the school office the sight of an upset Mr. Schuester, Kurt, Finn, and Principle Figgens surrounding a seated brunette with long hair had him stopping mid step. He quickly realized that the unnamed fifth individual was Rachel Berry. Puck wondered what the trio had done to garner a meeting with Figgens. He stepped closer, hoping to walk into Finn's line of vision and catch his former best friend's attention; unfortunately, he gained the secretary's attention instead and she quickly got up and shut the blinds.

Annoyed, but figuring he'd learn about the meeting during Glee Club, Puck continued the walk to his English class, which he shared with Mike Chang.

"Some dick painted a swastika on Rachel's locker," Mike quickly divulged. Puck hadn't even set his backpack down before the skilled dancer was catching him up with what had transpired just a couple of hours ago. Apparently Finn's outburst had not only drawn the attention of nearby students but that of faculty as well. Will Schuester had been walking towards his Spanish classroom while speaking with Mr. Ronald Pruett, a balding, middle-aged biology teacher, about whether or not Ohio State would force Jim Tressel out by the end of the school year when he heard the voice of one of his favorite students. Will and Pruett immediately headed towards the quarterback. After realizing what had upset Finn he looked down at Rachel who tried to avoid the choir instructor's eyes.

"Mr. Pruett, would you please go and get Principle Figgens," Will asked.

"Of course." With that, the biology left the four standing in the hallway. Before Mr. Schuester could even ask Rachel anything, the first period warning bell rang, for which she was grateful for because it caused the growing crowd of students to disperse and proceed to class. Kurt and Finn however refuse to leave her side.

Seeing as the arrival of first period forced the majority of the student body to miss what happened next, Mike's explanation ended there. He then took out his cell phone to show Puck a picture – just one of many – one witness had forwarded him of the blemished locker with a red eyed Rachel Berry standing at the corner of the screen. Apparently those who had seen what had transpired before the start of school where not disturbed enough by the incident to let it go undocumented – anything is potential gossip fodder when it comes to high school. The pictures spread like wildfire, as did the story behind them, throughout first and second period; and, by the start of third, it seemed as if the entire student body was aware that there had been a swastika in the halls of McKinley. The mark was no longer there of course; once Figgens had seen it, he had immediately instructed one of the janitors to finish what Ms. Berry had started and by 8:15 her locker was once again spotless.

Looking at the picture Puck was pissed. He was pissed at whoever had scribbled that shit on Rachel's locker and he was pissed at Chang for telling him right at the start of class, because now he had to sit still for forty minutes listening to Ms. Miller talk about some kids and a fly king while trying to keep his temper in check. Had it not been for the fact that he was still under probation, Puck would have simply skipped class and searched for the little Nazi-wannabe himself and once he found them he would have promptly beaten the shit out of them. Now he was going to have to wait till after school to kick this person's ass. Probation or not, Puck was going to make sure the asshole got what was coming to them.


	3. Chapter 3

Principle Figgins was on his office phone speaking to his wife, asking her if he had left his lunch as home (he had but she told him she would drop if off after she drove their youngest to elementary school), when his secretary poked her head inside, letting him know Mr. Pruett needed to speak with him immediately. Figgins nodded and waved his hand, signaling to Jenny that she could let Pruett in. After telling Neha that he had to go Figgins hung up and asked the biology teacher what he needed.

"A student's locker was graffitied with a swastika," Ronald informed Figgins, "Obviously, she's pretty upset over it."

Mr. Pruett had never had Rachel Berry as a student so there was little else he could tell his boss except that Will Schuester seemed to know the distressed girl and that he was with her now.

Once Pruett had led the Principal through the empty halls to the locker in question he left the five, explaining he had a test to administer.

While surveying the damage, Figgins glanced at Rachel and then at Will.

"William, do you know what happened here," he asked, hoping the Spanish teacher had more to add to Pruett's story.

Schuester filled Figgins in on the little information he had gotten from Rachel, but it wasn't much.

"I'm very sorry Ms. Berry, I'll have this taken care of right away," the Principal said as he took out his cell phone. Rachel only nodded.

"Jenny, would you please send one of the janitors to locker 672 by the south entrance."

Once he hung up, Figgins told Finn and Kurt that they needed to head to class. The two boys instantly began to protest, while Mr. Schuester placed his hand on a quiet Rachel Berry's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. The short brunette looked up at her choir director and gave him a thankful smile in return.

"Gentlemen, I know you're both upset, as am I, but there is little you can do right now," the school head said in an effort to placate the two teens.

"I'm not leaving Rachel," Kurt restated, "Period." Finn quickly backed up his stepbrother's resolution with a 'what he said.'

Figgins sighed but before he could respond, Robert Woods, a janitor who had been at McKinley five years, arrived.

"Mr. Woods would you please clean this mark off Ms. Berry's locker."

The janitor took eyed the locker and after seeing that the mark appeared to be faded his eyes traveled down to see a bucket filled with dark soapy water with a rag have submerged hanging on the side.

"Right away, Principal Figgins, I'm just gonna go grab a bristle brush from the closet and some more detergent." With that the head of McKinley redirected his attention back to the three students.

"Principal Figgins why don't we move this conversation to your office," Will suggested. Figgins hesitated, but he eventually nodded his head in resignation.

"Alright, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Hummel, and Ms. Berry, why don't you all go take a seat outside my office. I'll be there momentarily."

Before the group could leave, Will let them know that he'd meet them there.

"I'm just going to ask Ms. Pillsbury if she can cover for me next period."

The trio slowly made their way to the office in silence. When they were in front of the doors, Rachel hesitated.

"I'll join you two in a moment, I just need to freshen up in the restroom," she explained as she began walking away.

"Rachel, do you-"

"I'm fine Kurt," she cut him off, "I just need a moment to myself."

Kurt nodded and he and Finn headed inside. They smiled politely at the secretary and let her know the Principal had asked to speak with them in his office. Jenny nodded and told the two to have a seat on the small couch outside his door.

When Rachel entered the girl's bathroom she was thankful that it appeared to be empty. She walked up to the sinks and took a deep breath before looking up at her reflection in the mirror. She looked better than she expected. Yes, her eyes still were red, but they were no longer puffy and her mascara hadn't run. Still, inside she felt horrible. It was a strange feeling; logically she knew that it was just a symbol, one that meant many different things to different people. She also knew that getting upset over the actions of an apparent bigot was useless. Still, the idea that someone would take the effort to break into the school over the weekend, with the sole purpose of defacing her locker, simply because of her religious beliefs hurt. A lot. Honestly, she could handle being called a freak or a loser. Hell, it barely bothered her when Santana referred to her as Yentl, mainly because she took it to be a nod to her idol, the great and incomparable Barbra Streisand. But this was different, and she couldn't explain why, it just was and she knew it. Realizing that she had to get back to Figgins' office, Rachel brushed off her light green-striped collared blouse and straightened out her yellow skirt. She took one more steady breath before walking to the door. Her hand gripped the door handle just as the bell rang.

When Rachel entered the school office Jenny Garcia told her to head right on in to Principal Figgins' office. Once inside she saw that both Mr. Schuester and Figgens had rejoined Kurt and Finn.

"Sorry for making you all wait," she said softly as she took a seat.

"No need to apologize, Ms. Berry," Figgins reassured her. "I again want to extend my deepest apologize on behalf of the entire William McKinley administration. As I was telling Mr. Schuester here, the school will be taking the vandalism done to your locker very seriously. Discrimination on any kind is not tolerated here."

Kurt considered his ability to hold in his desire to snort a major victory and as a reward he allowed himself an eye roll.

"Thank you, Principal Figgins." Rachel also found it hard not to scoff, but she could hear the sincerity in the man's voice and knew he was truly upset by what had occurred.

"Rachel, have you had a problem with any of the students here recently," Schuester asked. "Or have any idea who would do this?"

"Quite the opposite actually. So this came as quite a surprise," she said in what she hoped was a composed and unaffected voice.

Obviously the student body at McKinley could not be described as hospitable when it came to all things Rachel Berry, but ever since Karofsky's supposed transformation and his collaboration with Santana in the establishment of Bully Whips the number of negative episodes directed against her had dropped substantially. She also believed that her growing and public friendship with Noah Puckerman played a role in the insult decline. The drawings and derogatory comments in the bathroom stalls remained and she still had to deal with the Cheerios' compulsive need to assign her unpleasant nicknames, but on the whole things were much better than they had been sophomore (and early junior) year .

Figgins continued to reassure her, and the others in the room, that the matter would be investigated thoroughly. He then asked if she would like to call her fathers, but she declined, not wanting to bother them while they were preparing for a very important trial.

By the time Rachel had managed to convince the men in the room that she was all right and that all she really wanted to do was get on with her day third period had come to a close and the halls were littered with students making there to their next class during the six minute grace period. When Rachel joined her fellow pupils in the hall she was quickly met by one fuming Noah Puckerman.

**A/N: Alright next chapter we're FINALLY going to get some Puck-Rachel interaction. Thanks to all who reviewed/favorited/alerted! Also to those writers who consistently put out +1000 word chapters my invisible hat (and opera gloves) off to you - yes that's a Cougar Town reference and I'm not embarrassed to admit it. **


	4. Chapter 4

"Um good morning, Noah," Rachel greeted Puck cautiously; he appeared to be very upset and she wanted to tread lightly. "How can I help you?"

Without answering her, Puck whipped out his cell phone and showed her the photo he had had Mike forward him.

"Who was it?"

"I don't know," she sighed, unhappy, but not surprised, that word of what happened had spread so quickly.

"I found it on my locker this morning. Principle Figgins assured me that there would be an exhaustive inquiry to uncover the guilty party."

Her reassurances did little to put Puck at ease. He assumed Figgins' would say whatever he had to in order to keep the Daddies Berry from raining down all legal hell on the school.

"This is bullshit, Berry."

Rather than reprimand him for his language, Rachel startled Puck by responding with a faint 'I know.'

The fact that Rachel Berry, the girl who usually gave him dirty looks if he said the word 'damn', agreed with his assessment of the situation stopped Puck from continuing his angry tirade. Instead, the tan teen took her into his arms and hoped that it gave her some comfort.

"Thank you, Noah."

The forth-period late bell echoed through the halls, but Puck didn't let go and neither did Rachel. After another minute, she reluctantly broke the hug.

"We better get to class," Rachel said while smoothing out her skirt. When she saw that Puck seemed disinclined to go she promised that they would talk next period during lunch.

"Alright, meet me in the choir room as soon as forth lets out," Puck consented.

When fifth period arrived Rachel hurried to the choir room and found that Puck was already there, sitting in one of the chairs in the second row.

"Did you bring something from home, Noah? I don't mind waiting if you want to go grab something from the cafeteria"

"Don't worry about it, Berry. I'm good." He pulled out a protein bar and coke that he had just bought at the vending machines.

Rachel nodded and pulled out her own lunch, boxed leftover vegetable korma from the Indian restaurant a mile from her house.

"Did they fix your locker?" Puck asked not really knowing how to start the conversation.

"Yes," Rachel answered, "Principal Figgins saw to that right away."

"Do you really not know or did you just not want to talk about it in the hallway?"

"I honestly have no idea, Noah."

"Has anyone been giving you a hard time? I told you to come to me if that shit kept happening."

It was true. Ever since school had reopened for the spring semester Puck had been making an effort to look out for Berry. He still called her out when she was being selfish or obnoxious – Noah Puckerman did not believe in treating people with "kid gloves", just ask his little sister – but overall Puck had kept his promise to God to treat his fellow Jews better. He couldn't really stop the Cherrios for harassing her, but he had done his best to make sure the jocks didn't slushy her and that Jacob Ben Israel's stalking was kept to a minimum at school.

And ever since he had helped Kurt orchestrate her Barbra-vention he had even begun hanging out with her outside of McKinley; this didn't happen all too frequently but he sometimes came over to her house on Fridays for dinner and a movie because he knew she usually spent those evenings alone since it was her dads' date-night. He also started sitting next to her at Temple when he showed up and had taken to driving her home after Glee practices.

Neither teen found these changes in their relationship to be that strange. They understood them to be the gradual progression of a budding friendship; at least that's how Rachel understood it. Puck's evaluation of the affair simply consisted of "whatever, chick's not bad to be around." Their fellow gleeks however, were slightly confused by the Puckleberry bond. So much so in fact that Lauren dumped Puck. In all actuality Lauren broke up with Puck because she had had her eye on an opposing school wrestler, Max Lewis. When Max broke up with his girlfriend of three years Lauren finally saw an opportunity to make her move, but she couldn't, in good conscious, do it while still going out with Puck. He understood and while romance may have failed, their friendship remained strong. Puck even gave the dude the "if you hurt her I'll fuck you up" speech when he ran into the new couple – what Lauren Zikes wants Lauren Zikes gets – at the mall. Still, the idea that Lauren dumped Puck because she felt threatened by the revival of Puckleberry made for better gossip, so that's what the gleeks chose to believe.

"I remember what you told me, Noah," Rachel smiled, "But I promise I have no idea who would do this. Aside from Santana's Yentl comments no one at this school has ever made disparaging remarks about my faith."

"I mean there are some caricatures of me in the girl's bathrooms around school that portray me with a ridiculously large nose but I think that's simply a jibe at a physical feature of mine. I don't believe the drawings to be attacks on my Jewish heritage."

After this morning, Puck wasn't too sure he could agree with Rachel on that last one.

Rachel placed her arm on his shoulder, "It's alright, Noah." Puck scoffed.

"I mean I was obviously troubled when I initially saw it, but I doubt the person who did it really meant anything by it. They probably just wanted to write something more original than 'Loser' on my locker."

This was the story Rachel had been repeating to herself all of fourth period. She still didn't buy it and from the look on Puck's face he didn't either.

"It wasn't just nothing, Rachel. It was fucked up."

"Well this is the first time something like this has happened in McKinley, so until proven otherwise that's going to be my working theory." Puck shook his head side to side.

"What's the school's 'working theory'?"

"I'm not sure, but Principal Figgens told Mr. Schuester and I that he planned to hold an assembly tomorrow to discuss intolerance."

"Seriously, an assembly? That's it?"

What happened to thorough investigation, Puck thought.

"Obviously he will also be reviewing the footage from the school's surveillance system to track down the perpetrator, but there's not much else he can do."

"Doesn't seem like enough to me"

"Well what would you have him do?"

"I dunno. Get the cops involved, let the dogs out. Call the cavalry. Bring the pain. Shit like that."

Rachel smiled at her his spirited suggestions and let out a genuine laugh. In that moment she felt more grateful than ever to have a friend like Noah Puckerman.

"I'll bring those motions to his attention," she said in jest.

Puck was going to tell her that his suggestions were serious, but when he saw that she finally seemed to be brightening up – a full 180 from the girl he had spoken to in the hall – he just laughed as well.

Their happy moment was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Hey you two," Will Schuester greeted.

The two teens looked up and smiled at their teacher.

"Hey, Mr. Shue," replied Puck.

"What are you guys laughing at?"

"Noah's future as an emergency response strategist," Rachel joked.

Will gave his students a confused look but the smile remained on his face.

"Nah, Mr. Shue. We were just talking about the crap that went down this morning."

"How are you feeling, Rachel?"

"I'm fine, Mr. Schuester. As I was telling Noah, I don't really think the offender was truly motivated by antisemitism but rather the desire to come up with an innovative way of bullying me."

Apparently, Mr. Schuester, thought that hypothesis had as much credibility as Puck had.

"I understand why you'd think it's easier to brush off this morning's incident, Rachel. But, it's okay to be angry. And it's okay if it's put you on edge."

Although Rachel was glad that she had people like Noah and in her life (and Kurt and Finn) who were concerned for her well-being, Rachel was kind of perturbed that no one seemed to be buying her 'it's nothing to worry about' performance. Had ten years of acting lessons taught her nothing? How was she supposed to make it on Broadway if she couldn't even convince a couple of people she was perfectly untroubled? Clearly, she would need to step up her game (and sign up for more workshops in the summer).

Deciding her best course of action would be to change the subject, Rachel asked the teacher what had brought him to the choir room on his lunch break.

"Oh, I was just looking to see if Brad was here. I wanted to ask him if he and his kids wouldn't mind meeting us in the auditorium this afternoon. The number I want you guys to run through would sound better with the acoustics there."

"What song did you have in mind," inquired Rachel, hoping that it had nothing to do with religion or acceptance; she really liked Mr. Schuester, but she didn't want him using a swastika on a locker as a teaching tool - a broken nose as an excuse to sing Lady Gaga, yes, a swastika, not so much.

"I was thinking MGMT's _Kids_."

Both Puck and Rachel's eyes grew in excitement.

"Really?"

"Seriously?"

The two questions voiced concurrently.

"Yeah," Schuester chuckled, "Don't look so surprised."

"In our defense Mr. Shue there are at least twelve of Journey's greatest hits still out there," Puck laughed.

"Ha Ha. I want Britney and Tina to share lead while the group joins in on chorus."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea, Mr. Schuester." And Rachel meant it. Yes, it was true she adored singing lead, sometimes unhealthily so, but she could admit when her vocals were not what the song called for.

"Have you thought of choreography?"

"Not yet. I first want to see if we can pull the song off and if all goes well we'll hopefully have something else in our arsenal for Nationals."

Rachel nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm gonna continue my search for Brad. If either of you see him would you let him know I'm looking for him?"

"Also, I'll be leaving a sign on the door, but if you see any of the guys could you let them know we'll be meeting in the auditorium not the choir room."

"Sure thing, Mr. Shue." With that the choir director took his leave.

Hoping to keep Puck's mind off topic, Rachel raised other ideas of unexpected song choices she felt would be perfect as group numbers.

"I think Kurt would be fabulous heading _Happy Ending_ by Mika. Or myself and a partner to be determined on Vega 4's _Life is Beautiful_."

"I don't know what a Vega 4 is," Puck said.

"You really need to take up my offer to join me in a Grey's Anatomy marathon, Noah. I promise you it'll open up your musical horizons and there is quite a lot of sex on the show to keep someone such as yourself interested."

"Actually, the extent to which the doctors pair up in the on call room is rather unrealistic - "

"No amount of sex is unrealistic, babe," Noah interrupted.

"Well if you would watch it with me, I think you'd be inclined to disagree with that statement."

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen."

"Which part. The watching or the disagreeing?"

"Both. I'm a man. A straight man. We eat of the meat. Drink of the beer. And enjoy-eth the bosom. We do not watch Grey's Anatomy."

"I see, but you do quote _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_."

"I've got a steak for Sarah Michelle Gellar-"

"Noah!" She smacked him on the chest.

"Don't be jealous, babe, my steaks big enough for-"

"Noah Puckerman don't you dare finish that sentence!"

Rule number one to live by: don't upset a crazy woman. Which is why Puck decided to let the predicate go unfinished.

"Fine. But if you want to talk about broadening your musical horizons you should watch _True Blood_. I'd totally kill Eels' _Fresh Blood._"

"I've never heard it."

"I'll play it this afternoon when I drive you home," Puck said just before the bell rang.

As Rachel gathered her belongings she let him know she looked forward to it. However before she could walk out the door, Puck's voice stopped her.

"I know that you really weren't in the mood to talk about it, Berry, which is why I didn't push back there. But, I'm here if you change your mind and you know ever want to talk about feelings and shit." He added the swear at the end to cancel out the estrogen that that sentence must have entailed.

"That means a lot, Noah," she said sincerely. With that she headed off to her Debate elective.

Puck was feeling pretty good about himself as he made his way to his locker in order to change his books. He had cheered Rachel up and gotten her to agree to listen to some decent music in the car drive this afternoon. Usually, they just left the stereo off because they always ended up bickering over what to play and while Puck did not coddle, Rachel did not respect car-law – driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his pie-hole (in this case her pie-hole) – so she always changed the station every time he reset it. His good mood was immediately annihilated when he stopped at his locker and saw the word 'kike' scribbled across the middle in red sharpie.

**A/N: I'm on a road trip for the rest of the week so updates will be pretty sporadic – bear with me please. If anyone is offended by the epithet at the end, my apologies, but if you are offended then at least you can get a sense of how the character feels. I hate hearing let alone typing words like that, but for this story it had to be done and fair warning it probably won't be the last…and on that cheerful note, I wish you all a great weekend. **


	5. Chapter 5

Livid. It means furiously angry. And after finding the word 'kike' scrawled across his locker, Noah Puckerman could honestly say he was nowhere near livid. He had bypassed that emotion and was now in what could only be described as a Hulk-rage zone. He didn't know who at McKinley had a death wish, but he was going to obliged them once he found out who the asshole was.

Ten lockers down Aaron and Jonathan Schwartz were staring at their locker doors as well. Like Puck, the lean twinned midfielders for McKinley's three time state runner up soccer team, seemed to be dealing with gamma-intensified anger caused by the same hateful word that appeared on their lockers.

Back by the southern entrance of McKinley, Tina Cohen-Chnag was clutching her boyfriend Mike Chang's hand in a death grip, her combination of anger and sadness once again caused by the derogatory term for one of the Jewish faith appearing on a locker door.

In total, eight students - almost a quarter of McKinley's Jewish population - had discovered that their lockers had been targeted before the start of sixth period: Noah Puckerman, Aaron Schwartz, Jonathan Schwartz, Tina Cohen-Chang, Hannah Rosenthal, Michal Rosenthal (no relation), Jacob Ben Israel, and Mariam Rodriguez. Principal Figgins was frantically trying to deal with the apparent antisemitic blitz facing his high school. Jenny's phone had not stopped ringing since 1:30pm. Upset parents, not just of the students who had been targeted and not just those of Jewish teens, had been calling the school demanding answers – news of the disturbing vandalism having been texted to them by their children once word had finished making its way around the school's students and faculty. Poor Jenny did her best to reassure them that the school was doing everything in its power, including involving the police, to track down the perpetrator or perpetrators

The Principal and the Mckinley Cherrio coach, Sue Sylvester, were currently reviewing the school surveillance cameras hoping to figure out who was behind these bigoted events. Sue may have resented her parents for missing a large majority of her and her sister's childhood due to their occupation as Nazi-hunters, but she had always respected the work they did; and, while she obviously had no problem insulting a person for either their stupidity or weak character, she did not believe in attacking someone solely based on their ethnicity, religion, or gender, which is why she had immediately stormed into Figgins' office demanding to head the investigation.

Although there were no cameras inside the school itself, there were cameras posted at every entrance, as well as the football field, swimming deck, and parking lots. From one of the grainy videos Figgins and Sue managed to figure out that at 9:15pm a large hooded individual, most likely male, approximately six feet tall, dressed all in black, had entered the high school through the north side entrance carrying a black backpack and exited at 10:03pm. Seeing as no one had reported the locks on the door to be damaged, the two educators believed the mysterious trespasser had used a key to get in. When the police arrived, an hour before school was to let out, Figgins passed on this information to the two detectives.

When the final bell rang, concluding the school day, most of the gleeks and Will Schuester had gone to the auditorium, however, no one was really in the mood to sing, when they knew three members of their group were currently being questioned, along with six other students, by police in an empty classroom with Principal Figgens, Emma Pillsbury, and Sue Sylvester.

Will looked at his kids, trying to think of the best way to start practice. Everyone in the group appeared to be upset; even Britney knew what the "Hitler symbol" meant, and once Santana had explained to her that some random crazy person wasn't misspelling the word 'kite' on peoples' lockers (as well as what the word 'kike' meant) her already sour face sullied some more. Mike Chang, a boy not known for his tempter, looked ready to snap; he had been with his girlfriend when she found that ugly word written on her locker and had gone with her to the school office to report what happened. When they arrived they saw Puck and the Schwartz twins sittings on the couch, the three fervently discussing something on with scowls on their faces. As Tina quietly told the secretary why she was there, Mike walked over to join the three boys.

"I think the same fuckwit who drew on Rachel's locker messed with Tina's too," Mike said as a way of explain why the two Asians were in the office.

"Her too!" exclaimed Aaron. The taller brother quickly told Mike why the rest of them waiting to talk to Figgins. Just as Aaron was finishing up, Hannah, Michal, Jacob, and Mariam were storming into the office, the newly arrived group joining Tina at Jenny's desk. After Figgins had returned, having gone to survey the initial three boys' lockers, he had asked all the targeted teens to come into his office. Figgins thanked Mike Chang for escorting his girlfriend, but that he would have to return to class and to ask Ms. Garcia for a late pass. Mike wanted to protest but Tina just told him she'd text him when she was out. After he kissed her forehead goodbye (they kept it PG for the Principal's sake) Mike had returned to Calc-1.

"Alright you guys," Will began, "I know it's been a hard day, but we still have to try to get through practice."

"No offense, Mr. Shue, but I don't think any of us are up for it right now," said Mercedes.

"Guys, I know you're all upset, I am too, but we have a little over a month until Nationals." Finn was about to jump in with another objection when the group heard the door to the auditorium open as Puck held the door for Rachel and Tina to enter, closing it as he followed. Will was pretty sure they were definitely not going to be able to get through practice now. Once the three approached the stage to join the rest of the club the questions were flying.

"What happened?"

"What did Figgins say?"

"Are the cops really here?"

"How many students were involved?" After a couple more questions were shot out, Schuster tried to get a handle on things.

"Guys, guys, give them some room." He looked at the three Jewish singers and said, "You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to."

Puck and Tina looked at Rachel, silently letting her know they wanted her to be the spokesperson for their unofficial group.

"Thank you all for your concern," she opened, "but both Principal Figgins and the detectives made it very clear that they would rather us not discuss an open criminal investigation." This was true. While there was no law against civilians talking about crimes committed against them, the detectives told the students that it was best if the number of people who knew exactly what went down was kept to a minimum; that way it would make the interrogation easier once they had a suspect in custody.

The police had asked the students similar questions to what Figgins had asked Rachel in the morning. All of them told the cops that this was the first time something like this had happened to them and Jacob had explained that none of the bullying directed towards him ever seemed to be driven by antisemitism. To further his point he informed the adults that two of the boys who frequently threw him into dumpsters were sitting to his left – Noah and Michal gave Jacob dirty looks for ratting them out in front of the Principal. Rachel, who had been pulled out midway through sixth period to join the others, had reiterated what she had told Figgins. She left out any mention of Santana's comments, because she genuinely believed that the Latina's insults were nothing to worry about – Santana insulted everyone (except Britney) so Rachel didn't consider herself special in that regard – plus, she felt an odd (warped) sense of loyalty towards the skinny cheerleader. Gleeks, even spiteful, violent ones, had to stick together, right?

The cops showed the nine teenagers the footage uncovered by Sue and Figgins, hoping one of them might recognize the person or at least their build. There were practically over 200 kids at McKinley who were at least six feet tall, but the cloaked individual seemed to be a bit overweight, which ruled out the majority of students on the basketball and volleyball teams, that still left at least 100 suspects, if the assailant was even a McKinley student at all. Although the nine teens watching the video wanted to give out names of who they thought it (kind of) looked like, they didn't want to get the wrong person in trouble with the police. Realizing, the kids couldn't be of anymore help the police handed out their cards, letting them know if they thought of anything to give them a call, and promised to keep them updated through Principal Figgins.

Trying to find a loophole to the detectives' request, Kurt asked how they were feeling instead.

"Pissed," Puck answered. Finn looked at his friend trying to figure out what was going through his head. Sure, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and his relationship with Puck had been put through the ringer, but Finn had known Noah Puckerman ever since elementary school. A seven year old Puck had stood up for him after some third graders were picking on Finn for not being able to throw a nurfball correctly – Finn's dad obviously hadn't been around to teach him the proper football grip – and the quarterback had developed the ability to read his friend like an open book over the years. Even during those months where he believed himself to be Drizzel's father, Finn knew something big was bothering the boy, but Puck always brushed it off with a 'don't worry about it man; it's nothing.' Now, as Finn looked at Puck, he could tell his friend wasn't just angry, he was sad. Finn wished that Shue would just excuse them all so he could talk to Puck. Yes, he was felt bad for Rachel and Tina too, but it wasn't often when that type of pain came across Puck's face and it had Finn legitimately worried.

**A/N: I've always thought it was rather ridiculous to assume that there were only three to four Jewish students at McKinley, a public high school that probably has at least 1000 kids. And in my mind Tina's always been Jewish – my backstory for her is loosely based on Christina Yang from Grey's (except that her father isn't dead). I think not too many people – although I have seen some do it (apparently we're on the same page) - write about Tina's Jewish faith because they just assume oh she's Asian and therefore not Jewish, which is ridiculous since ethnicity does not mandate faith, this is also why one of the named Jewish student's surname is Rodriguez. Finally, I don't believe in race – it's a pseudo scientific concept based on skin color invented in the mid 1800s to justify hate and imperialism – so you probably won't be seeing that word being used in this story to describe either the mysterious person (persons?) or the attacks. **


	6. Chapter 6

It has been a week since McKinley High School had been bombarded with antisemitic actions against its Jewish population. Since then the police had made little headway. There had been two school assemblies on the importance of tolerance, both concluding with a plea from Principal Figgins for any student with information on the crimes to share it with either himself or the police. So far no one had.

Unlike the police, Sue Sylvester's investigation was going remarkably well. After Sue had re-watched the surveillance video, which she had managed to copy before handing it over to the cops, twelve more times, she came to the conclusion that the perpetrator was indeed male. Sue then had Becky Johnson collect a list of names of all the men at McKinley who were between 5'10" and 6'2" - Becky's list was complete and back in Coach's hands in less than 48 hours. From there Sue had managed to reduce the list – don't ask how – to six students, two faculty members and three staff employees. She didn't share this information with the detectives assigned to the case because she believed the police would be restricted by useless legalities. Honestly, as far as Sue was concerned, the cops didn't have the stones to solve this case. It was up to her.

Since last Monday, Rachel, Puck, Tina, and the six others targeted by the unknown graffitist had been feeling hesitant whenever they approached their lockers. They each shared an anxiety, no matter how much they denied it to their friends, over whether or not the mystery person would strike again. Still, despite some frazzled nerves, the events had had some positive repercussions. The biggest being the recovery of Finn and Puck's friendship; followed by a tentative truce between Rachel and Santana.

When Mr. Shuester relented that infamous Monday and let the kids go early, Finn had asked Puck if they could talk. After everyone, minus Kurt and Rachel, had left, the two boys asked their respected passengers if they wouldn't mind waiting a few minutes. Kurt, who had been desperate to talk to Rachel since he left her that morning, eagerly let them know he was fine with waiting and to take as long as they needed. Rachel gave a similar response. The two divas let the guys know they'd be out in the hall and to just come out when they were finished. Once alone, Puck saw that Finn seemed to be having trouble with an opening line so he figured he help the guy out and get the ball rolling.

"So, what'dya need to talk about, man?" Finn glanced up Puck then back down at the piano. He took a breath and started, "Look, I need you to just let me get this out without butting in and calling me a pussy or something, okay?" Puck just nodded

"And when I'm done, I need you to tell me the truth. No bullshit."

"Alright, shoot."

"I think I'm ready to forgive you. For everything. I'm tired of not trusting you and I'm tired of us being these strange fake friends. I've known you since we were seven years old, and, as girly as it sounds, I know when you're hurting." Finn chanced a look at Puck and saw that he was staring really hard at the floor.

"And, I know that seeing that word on your locker hurt. Yea, I know it really pissed you off, but I also know it made you…sad. But, because we're stuck being weird fake friends who just talk about either sports or," Finn thought back to the various conversations he and Puck had had since the championship game and realized they all dealt with sports.

"Actually we've just talk about sports; I can't ask you if you're okay or if you wanna go blow off some steam together. So, I'm done being mad at you. I promise, I'm not gonna throw past shit in your face a week from now or even a year from now. So, as your actual friend, as the guy who has had your back for nine years, I want to know how you're doing."

Puck was taken aback. He wasn't sure what Finn had wanted when he asked him to stay after practice, and what Finn had just said completely caught him off guard. Realizing that he had yet to answer his friend, or even look at him, Puck lifted his head up.

"It made me feel like dirt," he began slowly, "Like I was nothing. And I really want to hurt who ever it was for making me feel like that. For making Rachel and Tina feel like that. Hell, for making Jewfro feel like that."

Finn nodded in understanding.

"But, tomorrow I know that I gotta walk into this school like it didn't bother me because I don't want that fucker to think he got to me." Once Puck had gotten that off his chest, the room fell into silence. Not really knowing what to say now Finn asked the mohawked if he'd be up for some COD, you know so he could kill some Nazis. Puck laughed and agreed to come over after he had dropped Rachel off. With that the tension that had hung over the two since sectionals of last year was gone.

**A/n: Sorry it' short. There was like no time to write today. Hopefully I'll have time to make up for it tomorrow. Also a quick shout out to boobear13: thanks for letting me know about your cousin's HS : ) I'm from Miami and my (small) HS was at the very least 1/3****rd**** Jewish so I guess my perception on Jewish percentages is skewed lol so we'll just pretend for the sake of this story that Ohio is like New York and Florida in terms of Jewish population (not exactly that high but not as low as 3 families).**


	7. Chapter 7

While Puck and Finn were having their guy moment in the auditorium, Kurt and Rachel made their way out to the hallway only to find Santana Lopez turned away from them, hesitantly waiting by the doors. At the sound of opening doors Santana turned around to face the two.

"I need to talk to you," she said, looking directly at Rachel, "Alone." Kurt told Rachel he'd be by the water fountains when she was done.

"Alright, Santana, what did you need?" Rachel's clipped town let the Latina know the short brunette was not actually interested in speaking with her nor was she going to make attempts to feign civility during the conversation. After Rachel's Barbra-vention the two girls had given each other wide berth. Santana realized that she was not happy the Latina was breaking their silent agreement to avoid speaking to one another.

"It's about what was on your locker this morning."

"What about it?"

"Look, I know I give you a hard time." At Rachel's raised eyebrow, she added, "A really hard time."

"But even though I call you Yentl and I once made that comment about you moving back to Israel. I wanted you to know that I would never do something like _that._" Impressed that Santana would stay around just to reassure her that even her bullying had standards, Rachel decided that she wouldn't make this more torturous for the girl.

"I know, Santana. I never suspected you."

"Good. So, yeah that's all I really wanted to say."

"Okay, Santana. I'll see you tomorrow at school." With that Rachel began to turn in order to join Kurt. However, before she could walk away, Santana reached out to stop her.

"Wait. Um, if it happens again or if you find out who did it, I want to know."

"Why?"

"To kick their ass," Santana stated as if it was obvious. Rachel found it amusing how alike Santana and Puck were. She tried to hold in her laughter, but a little chuckle managed to escape.

"What?" the Cherrio said, voice hard. Santana didn't like being laughed at.

"I'm sorry. It's just sometimes you and Noah are so similar that it's uncanny." Realizing the petite diva wasn't trying to insult her, Santana relaxed.

"Here I am trying to apologize and you're insulting me."

Afraid that she had already squandered Santana's extension of amicability – Rachel really didn't know if that description fit, but she was going to "roll with it" – she immediately began to apologize.

"No! No! I'm sorry. That's not what I was trying to do at all. I just meant that…" she trailed off when she realized Santana was smiling.

"I'm joking Ru-Rachel." Ignoring the squelched jibe, Rachel smiled at the cheerleader.

"Listen, I have to go; Britney's waiting for me in the car, but I'll talk to you tomorrow, Rachel."

"Alright, Santana, I hope the rest of your evening is enjoyable."

"Uh yeah you too." With that the Cheerio made her exit. Rachel began walking towards the fountains. As she turned the corner she bumped into Kurt, who had been eavesdropping the whole time.

"Kurt!" Rachel exclaimed, realizing immediately why the boy was there.

"What? Did you really think I was not going to listen in on that conversation?" Seeing that Rachel was not amused, he continued, "I was there for your protection. I wasn't sure whether or not the claws were going to come out. Think of it as a sign of my love for you."

"You mean your love of gossip."

"Can't I love you both equally?"

Before Rachel could respond, she heard Finn and Puck close the door of the auditorium. Rachel just shook her head at Kurt, but let him see her smile so that he would know she wasn't upset. The divas headed back to meet their "chauffeurs."

"Puck's coming over after he drops Rachel off," Finn said to Kurt so that the shorter boy would know that the living room would be occupied that night.

"Actually, why don't they both come over now," Kurt suggested.

"I still haven't had a chance to talk to you," he told Rachel.

"We were gone like ten minutes," said Puck.

"Yes, but my impromptu discussion with Santana took up most of my time," explained Rachel.

"What did Satan want?"

"She just wanted to assure me that while we have had our differences, she did not condone what was done to my locker, and I'm sure yours as well, and that she'd like to be kept informed if any other antisemitic episodes occur as well as if the unknown perpetrator is unmasked so that she could, and I quote, 'kick his ass'"

Puck and Finn looked at Rachel like she was crazy.

"First off, Berry, you need to breath when you talk and second, Satan said what?"

"She said-"

"No, I heard you, I'm just having trouble believing you."

Eventually, the four teens were able to make their way outside and over to the Hummel-Hudson (Hudson-Hummel?) residence. While Finn and Puck focused on getting out of Omaha Beach alive, Kurt took Rachel to his room.

"Finally," he let out, "I haven't been able to talk to you all day."

"How have you been? The last time I saw you, you were sporting red eyes and while I know you told us that you were fine, I don't believe that for a second." Rachel sighed, she was so tired of talking about what had happened, but she knew Kurt meant well and he was just worried about her so she answered him honestly.

"I had hoped that it was just a fluke. I thought one of McKinley's notorious neanderthal's put it on my locker because they were bored of the usual catalog of insults, but now, knowing that I was not the only one targeted, now I'm actually a bit on edge. I'm afraid it's going to escalate."

"I understand," Kurt let her know that he empathized with her situation, "back when Karofsky was at his worst, I felt sick to my stomach every day. Not knowing what he would do next."

"I remember, Kurt, and, I am so sorry that the school didn't respond to your situation with the same seriousness and haste that they seem to be taking with mine." Rachel saw no distinction in attacks aimed at one's religion or sexual orientation. Any assault on a person's being was utterly despicable. Kurt grabbed her and gave it a tight squeeze to show his appreciation

"Lets be grateful that they seem to have learned something from my experience. Do they have any suspects?"

"Not yet I'm afraid." Rachel went on to tell him everything that had been said and shown to her and the other students when they had met with the police. Although she remembered the detectives' request to limit discussing the case, Rachel trusted Kurt wholeheartedly.

When Rachel walked into McKinley the following Monday with Puck, who had driven her to and from school everyday last week, she walk towards her locker cautiously. Even though nothing had happened to any Jewish student since then, she was still a bit nervous every time she approached her locker. However, upon reaching it, she saw that once again she had nothing to worry about. The outside door was spotless. After Puck saw that her locker was untouched he told her he'd see her at lunch and headed off to change his own books.

Once Rachel had gathered the books she would need for AP European History she went to meet Santana by her locker. The two had developed a new morning routine last week: Rachel would meet Santana by her locker; they'd try their hand at polite and friendly girl talk; then they would grab seats next to one another in AP Euro, as well as AP Chemistry second period; after that, they said their goodbyes. So far, so the pattern seemed to be going well since neither girl had snapped and maimed the other. As Rachel made her way through the crowded hallway someone's backpack accidentally sent her into another student.

"I'm so sorry," she said, trying to get her footing.

"Watch it, hymie," the person stated in a low voice. Before she could get a good look at the student, he was gone, disappearing into the crowd.

Rachel stood frozen, unsure of what to do. She knew that that had been _him. _That was the student who had shaken her to the core last week. She knew it; problem was she still really wasn't too sure of what he looked like. What do I do, she thought. Obviously, you follow him, her mind answered. Rachel took off into the crowd. Knowing the boy was wearing dark checkered green polo and khakis, Rachel kept her eyes peeled. As she gave chase, Rachel tried to avoid her peers and their school bags. When she reached the end of the hall Rachel was unsure if she should take a left or a right; she chose left, and her guess paid off. She spotted him just before he slipped into a classroom. It was Thomas Harding, a senior who transferred to Lima last August, from California, if she remembered correctly.

Now that she had this information Rachel wanted to run to the Principal's office, but she realized all she had was her word that Thomas had said called her an offensive word. No one else gave any indication that that had heard him. She decided that her word would have to be enough. However, she really didn't want to miss another class – she was an A student after all. So, she told herself that she would notify the Principal during her lunch period.

Less than a minute to get to class, Rachel quickly made her way to AP Euro. Beating the bell, Rachel entered the room and saw that Santana had saved her a seat. As she hastily prepared for the day's lesson, removing her textbook, notebook, pen, spare pen, recorder, and emergency double A batteries, Santana asked her where she had been. At first, Rachel was just going to brush off the Cheerio's question, but then she remembered what Santana had asked her last week. Deciding that if their friendship was actually going to last, Rachel decided that she would be honest with the Latina.

"I was searching for the person who drew the swastika on my locker."

"What?" Luckily, Santana's outburst didn't draw too much attention seeing as the bell drowned her out.

"I found him," Rachel continued, because their teacher had yet to enter the room. Santana's eyes could rival Rachel's at that point.

"What? How? Who is it?" The cheerleader's voice was lower now.

"Thomas Harding." But before she could go into more detail Mr. Peterson walked into the room. Rachel had no problem ending their conversation and instead focusing on Russia's decision to construct the Berlin wall, Santana however was useless the rest of class; she was definitely going to have to borrow Rachel's tape recorder.

When fourth period let out, Rachel made her way to the school office. She told Ms. Garcia that, if possible, she needed to talk to Principal Figgins about last week's incident. Jenny nodded and phoned the man, informing him that Ms. Berry was here to speak with him. Jenny let her know that she could head right on in. When Rachel opened the door to Figgins' office she saw that he was not alone. Sue Sylvester was standing out of her chair, holding a scrunched up piece of paper in the man's face.

"I'm sorry, Principal Figgens. I didn't know you were busy" Rachel started, "But, Ms. Garcia, said I could come in. I could come back if this isn't a good time."

"No, no, Ms. Berry now's fine. Coach Sylvester here was just telling me about a list of possible suspects."

"Really? Is, um, is…" Rachel suddenly wasn't so sure she wanted to out Thomas. What if she had heard wrong? What if he said tiny? She knew he hadn't said tiny, but accusing someone of drawing a swastika on a locker and writing the word 'kike' all over school was serious and she didn't want to be responsible for getting the wrong person in trouble, especially if that person was a popular senior who was the starting goalie on the hockey team.

"Spit it out, Berry," demanded Sue.

"Actually, I'm sorry. It's not important, I was just curious to see if you or the police had any new information to offer." Cue the rambling.

"My fathers keep threatening to storm into the station and 'light a fire', and after I let know that such action would be ill advised and would probably only distract attention away from the case, I told them that I would go to you for answers." Please buy this she thought.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Berry. But aside from Coach Sylvester's list, which she still hasn't told me how she came up with, nothing more has been uncovered."

"I'll let my fathers know. Thank you for your time." As she left, Rachel could feel Sue Sylvester's eyes on her. The woman thought Rachel was hiding something and she was going to find out what.

Rachel's stop had taken less than ten minutes, so she still had plenty of time to sit down for lunch. Rachel found Noah, Finn, Artie, and Santana – that was a change in the routine - sitting off to the side. When he spotted her, Puck lifted his chin in a gesture signaling her to join them.

When she sat down, Puck asked her where she had been.

"Oh, nowhere, I was just a little behind schedule."

"Did you tell Figgins?" Santana asked. This is why Rachel hated when people changed their routines on her.

"No, I decided to wait," she replied, hoping none of the boys would inquire as to what she and Santana were talking about.

"Tell Figgins' what?" Apparently Finn couldn't read her mind.

"Rachel knows who spray painted her locker," Santana answered for her, "It was Thomas Harding."

"The hockey player?" Questioned Artie.

"I not one hundred percent certain," Rachel tried to gain control of the conversation, "There was an incident this morning in the hall-" Puck was out of his chair before she could finish. This is why she didn't want to say where she had been at the start of lunch.

"Noah, where are you going?"

"To find Tom," he said, voice cold. At that Santana stood up as well.

"Noah, sit down," Rachel lectured, "You too, Santana. First off, I said I'm not sure and secondly, Noah, you are on pronation, therefore even if Thomas was the one responsible, you could not, as I suspect you want to, confront him with violence. Puck wanted to just storm out of the cafeteria anyways, but once he heard a soft 'please' come out of Rachel's mouth followed by her tiny hand over his clenched fist, he finally sat back down, as did Santana.

"Fine, but tell me what happened in the hallway this morning."


	8. Chapter 8

When Rachel finished telling Noah what she had heard Tom call her after accidentally bumping into him it took the rest of lunch to calm him down and convince him not to go beat the boy to a bloody pulp.

"Noah, really, it's alright," Rachel tried for what felt like the hundredth time, "I may have misheard."

"You didn't hear wrong, Berry."

"Regardless, violence is never a valuable tool when one is dealing in conflict resolution."

"Well it gets more done than trying to hug everything out."

"Noah, please, you still have three months until your probation concludes and thirty seven days until Nationals. You can't afford to get into trouble right now." Puck wanted to tell Rachel she wasn't making the strong argument she thought she was, but he knew her attempts to dissuade him had less to do with an "abhorrence of violence" and more with the fact that she and Artie had been working tirelessly trying to keep him on the straight and narrow (and academically exceeding) path. The two of them seemed to really believe that he had a future; and while he desperately wanted to pound Harding's face into the ground and leave six-pointed star shaped bruises all over his bigoted body, his desire not to disappoint his two friends won out.

"Alright, Berry, but you have to promise me that you'll tell Figgins."

"But, what if I'm wrong."

"Doesn't matter. Let the cops figure that out." Realizing that this compromise was the best way to keep Puck out of trouble, Rachel agreed.

"You have my word, Noah. But, it will have to wait until tomorrow morning seeing as my schedule is booked the rest of today. Although Puck wanted her to tell Figgins ASAP, he figured waiting until tomorrow wouldn't be the end of the world.

"Ok, but if I find out that you still haven't told him by lunch Tuesday, I can't be held accountable for my actions." Finn and Santana looked shocked that Puck had used the world accountable in a sentence, and he had used it correctly. Apparently, those tutoring sessions with Rachel were paying off. That or he was spending more time with the petite diva then the rest of the gleeks had previously assumed. When the four at the table separated for sixth period, Rachel pulled Finn aside and asked the teen if he wouldn't mind making sure that Puck stayed clear of Tom for the rest of the day. Finn said he'd try his best.

When Rachel walked into her final class of the day she was surprised to find Sam Evans sitting in her usual seat next to Mercedes Jones. When the two saw Rachel walking over they paused their conversation to greet her.

"Hey guys."

"Hey girl," said Mercedes, "Kurt wanted me to let you know he's looking for you and expects you to meet him in front of his locker when class lets out."

"Did he say what he wanted?"

"Nope. Just to let you know."

"Hey, Rachel. I was just about to go back to my seat."

"Oh that's okay, Sam. Stay there, you two looked like you were having a good time." Rachel and Kurt were well aware that their fellow diva had a huge crush on the blond and they had both been begging the girl to make her move ever since he had broken up with Quinn.

"I'll just take your seat. It's not a problem."

"Are you sure?"

"I insist."

"Thanks." Sam was just being polite before. He really liked Mercedes' company and hadn't wanted to move back. As Rachel bid them adieu she saw Mercedes' mouth the words 'thank you' to her.

Once Tuesday's school day had come to a close Rachel went to go find Kurt, curious as to what couldn't wait until glee practice at 3:30.

"Hi, Kurt," Rachel said when she reached his locker, "Mercedes said you had something important to say to me?"

"Walk with me." Confused by his short tone, Rachel followed quietly, trying to think if she had done anything to upset the boy in the last 24 hours. The only thing that came to mind was her comment that Blaine looked better in baby blue than Kurt did, but she couldn't believe that something so trivial would cause the soprano to turn so sour.

Kurt finally stopped walking when they had reached the school bleachers.

"Kurt?"

"I talked to Santana this afternoon," he started, "She told me that you know who spray painted your locker, but that you don't want to go to Figgins about it."

"Well that's not entirely true," Rachel tried to explain, "Originally, yes, I didn't want to disturb Principal Figgins' with my theory because I was uncertain if I had accurately heard Thomas Harding refer to me as 'hymie' this morning. But after speaking with Noah, I have decided to share my concerns with the principal tomorrow before classes begin."

"You should tell him now."

"Waiting a few more hours won't hurt. Plus, this way it gives me the opportunity to speak to Thomas before hand."

"No," Kurt immediately asserted.

"Just to give him a chance to explain himself."

"No, Rachel," he restated.

"I know Tom. Before I transferred to Dalton he helped make my life miserable. There were even times when he made Karofsky look like a teddy bear."

"Still, maybe he has an explanation. I really have no physical evidence connecting him to the crime and I think I should at least hear his side before doing something as drastic as accusing him of executing several antisemitic acts of vandalism. Especially when such an accusation will gain the attention of the police."

"Listen to me, Rachel, not all bullies are like Karofsky." Kurt tried to make her see reason.

"Some people are just mean; there's no deep seeded family secret. No heart of gold under a ruff, misunderstood exterior. They're mean because they can be. Thomas is one of those people-"

"But-," Rachel interrupted

"No, Rachel. I'm serious. Leave this alone. Let the school handle it. Let the police handle it." Rachel didn't agree with Kurt. She couldn't believe that someone would just hate an entire group of people just to hate them. There had to be a reason for Thomas' actions; there just had to. Still, she didn't want to fight with Kurt about this so she let the boy think he had won.

When three thirty rolled around the two divas were seated in next to each other in the front row of the choir room with their fellow teammates scattered around.

"Alright guys," Mr. Schuester began, "I know we tried _Kids _last week, and while Tina and Britney did a fantastic job, I think it's just not enough for National." A few of the students let their disapproval be heard.

"But," the choir director pushed on, "I do think that we were on the right track with choosing more recent songs. So I was thinking we try _Happy Ending___by Mika." When he heard this, Puck looked at Rachel who acted as if she had no idea that the man would suggest the very same song proposal she had shared with him last week.

"Kurt, think you can handle lead?" Kurt tried no to look affronted that Mr. Schuester would even ask such thing.

"Of course Mr. Shue," he said as he made his way to the front of the room to grab the sheet music.

After the rest of the group had been divided in order to work on their various assigned parts, they were able to run through the entire thing together twice before time was up.

As Puck and Rachel walked to his truck together, Rachel stopped in front of the driver's side door rather than continuing to the passenger's side.

"Noah, would you mind, terribly if I canceled our tutoring session tonight?"

"Why? What's up?"

"Nothing, I'm just not feeling my best is all," she lied

"Are you okay? Do you want me to stop by Rite Aid on the way to your house?"

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary." His concern just made her feel worse for lying to him.

"Actually, that's another thing; I'd like to walk home, if it's alright."

"But, if you feel bad wouldn't you, you know, want to get home as soon as possible?"

"Um not when you have menstrual cramps," she made up. Rachel, like all girls, knew that the best way to get a guy to just agree to whatever you wanted was to either say you had cramps or your period. She's not proud of it but she once used it as an excuse to get out of a test she didn't feel prepared for. She also used it – again, like all girls – to get out of PE whenever she didn't feel like running around the gym and sweating.

As expected, Puck became uncomfortable with the mention of her period. Even though her lie achieved the desired result, Rachel couldn't help but think that the boy needed to be able to deal with such talk better in the future since he lived at home with two woman (even though Sara was still in elementary school).

"Well, if you're sure…"

"I am. Walking shifts the weight so that the uterus isn't exposed to constant pressure. It also relaxes the ovar-"

"Ok. Ok," Puck stopped her. He didn't want to be hearing about her unfun lady parts.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I promise I'll study with you extra hard on Wednesday."

"It's cool. I mean if it gonna help with your…cramps." The last word seemed to cause him physical pain.

"It will."

"Ok. So then yeah, don't worry about it. Pick you up tomorrow?"

"Yes please. Dad and Daddy are still in Cleveland. The trial is taking longer than expected since the defendant refused to accept their deal."

"Sucks. Alright guess I'll see you tomorrow, Berry."

"Bye, Noah." She waited for him to turn the corner until she began her walk in the opposite direction of her home. She knew Thomas only lived half a mile from school since she knew Artie lived two houses down from him. Rachel felt bad about lying to Noah and Kurt, but she felt that talking to Thomas before involving the authorities was the right and fair thing to do.

Rachel had almost made it to Artie's house when she heard a car horn blaring behind her. Looking to see why the driver was signaling her, she turned around and saw a red little sports car puling up next to her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Berry?" yelled Santana. "Get in the car." Rachel rolled her eyes but did as told, not wanting to draw the attention of any of the residence who happened to be outside their homes.

"Santana, may you please tell me why you felt the need to track me down?"

"Not until you tell me why you thought showing up to Harding's house alone would be a good idea."

"How did you-"

"Kurt called when I was dropping Brit off at her house and told me what you said to him on the bleachers. So then I called Puck looking for you to tell you how incredibly stupid your idea would be. And then that moron tells me that you weren't with him because you wanted to walk home because you had 'lady cramps'."

"And that's when you realized what I was up to?"

"No, Brit did that. I asked Puck what the fuck he was talking about, but Brit just told me to hang up because she knew the answer. Then she said a girl only lets boys know about their lady cramps when she wants to be receptive."

"Receptive?"

"She meant deceptive." Rachel thought it was really sweet how well Santana knew Britney.

"And that's when she said you were being receptive because you wanted to talk to Tom. So then I had to haul ass over to Britney's and kick her out in order to get back here in time and stop you from getting yourself killed." Rachel, while upset that Santana had basically called her stupid and implied that she was weak, was still rather touched that the Cherrio, who had once made it her life's mission to torture the her, would go through so much trouble just to stop her from getting hurt.

"Although I think you're overreacting, thank you Santana."

"Don't mention it. Especially because I called Puck back to let him know what you were up to just in case I couldn't get you in time. The guy sounded like he was going to save you just so he could kill you himself. Rachel's stomach dropped when she heard that. As if on cue, the sound of burning rubber could be heard.

When Puck saw Santana's car parked in front of Artie's house, he felt an unimaginable sense of relief. That was quickly replaced by anger. Parking his car behind the little red car, he slammed his door shut and ran up to the passenger side door. When Rachel saw a red faced Noah Pucker man standing outside her window she was fairly certain she did not want to roll down the window. Santana, apparently, had other plans. The Latina made the passenger window go down with the control panel on the driver's side.

"Um…hello, Noah."

"Hello? Hello? What the fuck were you thinking, Rachel! Are you crazy!" Rachel winced at the volume of his voice.

"Noah, please-"

"'Noah, please' nothing! Fuck, Berry! I almost had a heart attack!"

"I'm sorry, I just knew you would have tried to talk me out of it."

"Damn right I would have tried to talk you out of it. What part of tiny Jewish girl confronts possible antisemitic six foot two hockey player sounds like a good idea to you?"

"I just thought-"

"You weren't thinking!" Both Rachel and Santana, who was discretely recording all this on her iphone, looked at Puck as if he had grown a second head when he resorted to that cliché parental one-liner.

"I'm sorry, Noah" Puck shook his head in disappointment.

"Just get in the truck Rachel; we're going home." Apparently, Puck was channeling Hiram Berry today. With that Santana pocketed her phone, neither of the other teens having realized that their fight had been immortalized on film.

"I'll see you in history tomorrow, Santana. Thank you again for being concerned about my well being." Upon hearing the sadness in the girl's voice as well seeing as the unleashed tears in her eyes, Santana felt kind of bad for having ratted her out to Puck.

"See you tomorrow, Berry." Santana hoped that she had conveyed sympathy in her response. The bitchy Cheerio wasn't too familiar with the emotion, relying mostly on angry or turned on, so she wasn't sure if the softness in her voice was enough to let the diva know that she felt for her.

As Santana drove off, Rachel silently followed Puck back to his truck with her head down. They made the ten minute drive to Rachel's house in silence. When they arrived Puck put the car in park, and started straight ahead. Rachel was unsure if she should get out of if she should try to explain herself some more, hoping Puck had calmed down some during the drive.

"Noah," she started tentatively.

"Don't, Rachel."

But she tredged on, "I'm sorry if my plan, upset you, I only-"

"You lied to me, Berry."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"No you don't know. I was terrified. I thought Santana wasn't going to get to you in time." Rachel wanted provide him with some sort of comfort, but she wasn't sure he would appreciate being touched at the moment. Still, after looking at the fear and sadness in his eyes she decided to risk it and laced her hand with his. Her touch seemed to sooth him.

"Promise me that you'll never do something like that again."

"I promise, Noah," she said without hesitation.

"I want your word."

"You have my word, Noah." That seem to be enough for him.


	9. Chapter 9

"You weren't thinking!"

"You weren't thinking!"

"You weren't thinking!"

"You weren't-"

"Kurt!" Rachel's voice drowned out Noah's recorded voice "Could you please stop watching that!" Kurt had been playing the video of Rachel and Puck outside Artie's house basically on repeat ever since Santana had forwarded it to the rest of the gleeks Monday night.

"Hush, Blaine hasn't seen it," Kurt said as an excuse to continue reviewing his favorite part. Blaine nodded his head to back Kurt up. However, the soprano was lying. Immediately after the fashionable teen had viewed the video he sent it to his boyfriend.

"Oh really," she said, turning to face the Warbler seated to Kurt's right, "Then please explain to me why I woke up to a two page text from a Mr. Blaine Anderson this morning stating that after seeing a 'sexy-pissed' Noah Puckerman using his 'angry dad voice', he now understood why Kurt and the rest of McKinley High's female population were drawn to someone who considered an outdated Mr. Mohawk to be a stylish quaff."

"Fine. He has seen it," Kurt confessed, "But this is our favorite part."

"No, it's _your_ favorite part," Blaine corrected, "Mine's 'Get in the truck Rachel; we're going home'," he said mimicking Puck's stern voice. Rachel rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her soy café au lait – after several (forty-seven) strongly worded letters to corporate headquarters, The Lima Bean finally relented and began offering both soy and almond milk alternatives as well as adding two vegan bakery items to their menu.

It was Tuesday afternoon and the three singers were waiting for Mercedes to meet them in their usual table.

"Where is this girl?" Kurt asked, checking his watch for the fifth time.

"Her and Sam were taking their time packing up when school finished," Rachel explained.

"Well, if she insists on making us wait then she better be ready to give me a word for word recount of what they talked about."

"Speaking of…" Blaine interrupted when he saw the girl in question hurry through the door, a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Sorry I'm late," she rushed pulling out a chair next to Rachel, "but Sam needed to ask me something."

"And what would that be?" Blaine inquired; sensing his friend desperately wanted some one to ask what the blond needed.

"He wanted to know if I'd go to prom with him!"

"He did?" Kurt screamed. "That's wonderful! You have to let me do your make up. Of course we'll first have to pick a dress so the colors won't clash. Oh my God this means we can all go shopping this weekend!" Kurt didn't realize that one member of their party was still dateless. As the diva continued to throw out suggestions, Blaine discretely kicked him under the table.

Blaine's attempt at discretion was in vain, when the boy stopped talking to Mercedes and directed a glare towards the Warbler. "What, Blaine. That hurt." Blaine just used his eyes to point towards Rachel, hopping the girl across from him didn't realize what he was trying to do. She did though.

Rachel laughed, "It's quite alright, Blaine. My lack of a partner shouldn't leave Kurt with bruised shins." Rachel turned to face her excited friend.

"Mercedes, I am very happy for you," she said sincerely, "I know you will have lovely time with Sam. I've seen the way he looks at you in Art History. I'm actually surprised he's waited this long to ask you." Mercedes smiled.

"Thanks, Rachel, and don't worry someone's definitely going to ask you."

"Of course they are, which is why you're coming with us on Saturday to scour the mall for the perfect dress for each of you. I myself already have what I believe to be the perfect outfit." Kurt said.

"Thank you, Kurt, but I have Temple on Saturday followed by dance."

"Then Friday. We'll shop then finish with dinner and a movie or a movie and dinner." Technically her schedule was free Friday, aside from Glee, which they all (minus Blaine) shared, but she had recently begun to think of Friday's as Noah-Rachel movie nights.

"Oh, um Friday may not work for me either, I'll have to get back to you." Before Kurt could pester her about what she had planned for Friday, Rachel immediately questioned Mercedes about her ideas concerning a dress and shoes. Mercedes happily took the spotlight off of the petite brunette. As the black diva listed her ideas Rachel's mind drifted back to earlier in the day.

Puck had showed up to her house earlier than usual. When she asked what had prompted his early arrival, Puck told her he wanted to make sure she had enough time to go see Figgins. Once at school, rather than leaving her side, he accompanied her as she walked to the school office.

"Really, Noah, I said I would tell him. You don't have to follow me."

"You also said you were going to walk _home_ yesterday and look how that turned out." Rachel wanted to give the boy a piece of her mind when she heard the remark, but then she remembered how upset and frightened he had looked been yesterday and realized he it was just his way of expressing concern.

"Fine, but once we're in Principal Figgins' office you cannot insert any of your colorful commentary as I give an account of what occurred yesterday." By "colorful commentary" he knew she meant she didn't want him to swear.

"Don't worry, I'll keep my mouth shut. I just want to make sure he hears the whole story." Before the two teens made it to the office they heard the loud voice behind them.

"Berry. Puckerman. Stop right there." They did, knowing full well who that voice belonged to. Sue Sylvester took three long strides in order to join the two students.

"You can go Puckerman. I just need Berry." Rachel gave Puck a look that clearly said 'don't you dare leave me alone with this woman.' Although Puck kind of wanted to punish Rachel for the little stunt she pulled yesterday, he felt that throwing her to Sue was a bit harsh.

"Sorry, Coach Sylvester, Rachel and I need to go see Figgins. Together." Rachel was relieved Puck was able to interpret her S.O.S.

"I didn't ask what you needed. I told you to go." As the two engaged in a stare-off, Puck started to rethink his decision to stay with Rachel.

"Coach Sylvester, I'm sure what ever you have to say to me could be said in front of Noah as well?" Rachel tried to mediate. Surprisingly, Sue relented and told the boy he could stay.

"Come to my office." Puck wanted to tell the woman that what ever she needed could wait until after Rachel talked to Figgins, but he figured he and Rachel had just won a major victory and decided not to push their luck. Once inside Sue closed the door and the blinds. Again, Puck thought he should have left Rachel. Now there would be no left to report what happened to their missing bodies.

"Alright, Berry, yesterday you lied to Figgins."

"She seems to be doing that a lot lately," inserted Noah. This time his comments earned him an elbow to the gut. Sue just ignored the two and continued, "What were you there to ask him?"

Rachel figured if she was going to tell Figgins about Thomas there was no hard in telling Sue Sylvester as well.

"I was there because I thought I knew who spray painted my locker." Sue looked at her to carry on.

"Yesterday morning while in the hallway I accidently bumped into another student, Thomas Harding. After apologizing for the collision, I thought I heard him say, 'watch it, hymie.'" When Sue turned away to search something inside her desk, Rachel added, "But I could have misheard him. It was difficult to hear as there were many other students around us conversing."

Sue found what she was looking for and slammed the piece of paper on the desk causing Rachel and Puck to flinch.

"This," Sue described, "Is a list I created of possible suspects." Rachel nodded, remembering that Principal Figgins had mentioned Sue's list yesterday.

"Thomas Harding's name is number one," Sue stated. When Rachel and Puck exchanged looks Puck mouthed 'told you' causing Rachel to narrow her eyes. Rachel redirected her attention back to Sue.

"If you don't mind me asking, Coach Sylvester, how did you narrow the list of suspects down?"

"Don't worry about that. Just know that this isn't the first time Harding has been involved in these kinds of incidents."

"What?" exclaimed Puck.

"The charges were dismissed and technically his California juvenile record is suppose to be sealed, but two years ago Harding, along with two of his friends, was charged with aggravated assault on a student. That student was Jewish."

"He what!" Puck yelled, then turning to Rachel, "And you were gonna…he couldof…you almost…!" He was too upset to speak coherently. Rachel now realized that she had been very lucky yesterday afternoon.

"Rachel…Rachel…Rachel!" Mercedes voice broke through her memories. Rachel realized her three friends were staring at her.

"I'm sorry, Mercedes, what were you saying?"

"I asked if you needed a ride home."

"Oh, no thank you. Noah should be here momentarily."

Ever since finding out Harding had a violent past, Puck had done his best to stay close to Rachel. He was even reluctant to let her with Kurt to meet Blaine at the Lima Bean afterschool. The only other gleeks who now knew about the dismissed charge of aggravated assault were Santana, Tina, and Mike. There rest of the team, thanks to Santana's video, jus knew Rachel suspected Harding and had told Figgins that morning. Rachel told Noah that they had to let Tina know for her own protection and Puck said they had to tell Mike too because if it was his girl he'd want to know. Rachel still wasn't sure how Santana found out, but she suspected Sue Sylvester had something to do with it. She also believed the coach was the reason Mr. Schuester had held her back after Spanish to let her know that he was there if she needed him. As for the rest of the gleeks, Rachel convinced the four that telling everyone else was unnecessary, as it would only distract them from preparing for Nationals.

Upon hearing her statement that "Noah" would be driving her home, Kurt, Mercedes, and Blaine smiled, believing that they may have found their friend a date to prom. When she heard the idea she tried to correct them but they were too excited about a "Puckleberry Prom." After they had left Rachel went outside to sit on the bench to wait for Noah. As she stared out into the parking lot she felt someone join her. She turned her head and was unnerved to see that Tom Harding had sat down. Trying to remain calm Rachel just continued to look out for Noah's blue truck.

"I know it was you," Tom said in a tone similar to the one he had used in the hallway. Rachel turned to face him. Without, looking at her, he clarified, "I know you ratted me out to Figgins, Berry."

"Thomas, I don't think it's appropriate for you to be here right now," Rachel said, trying to keep her voice from trembling.

"The police are going to ask to speak with you tomorrow. And when they do you're going to tell them you were wrong."

"And if I don't?" Rachel said, silently cursing that Puck had been caught at the light. She may have been scared, but that didn't mean she was going to appear meek. Rachel did not like when people tried to intimidate her, especially spineless cowards who sprayed painted lockers in the dead of night with no one around to see them.

Thomas turned his head and looked her dead in the eye. "If you care about your friends, kike" he said as he also spotted Puck's truck stopped at the light, "You'll do it." With that he got up and walked away. Rachel, tried to compose herself before Puck's truck pulled up in front of the bench.

"Sorry, I'm late, Berry," he apologized, "I got like every light coming here."

"That's alright, Noah," Rachel said as she concentrated to keep her hand from shaking as she gripped the door handle, "I wasn't waiting long." Once inside the car, Rachel avoided making eye contact with Puck, afraid he'd be able to see the fear that was splashed across her face. Noticing there was something off about the girl, Puck shifted the gear to park.

"What's wrong?" Rachel didn't know what to do. She didn't want to lie to him, especially after yesterday, but she knew if she told him she would not be able to stop him from doing something stupid. Not willing to risk the possibility of him breaking his probation, Rachel lied.

"It's nothing, Noah. Kurt and Mercedes were just talking about prom this afternoon and it made me realize that I still don't have a date."

"Whose Jones' going with?"

"Sam asked her this afternoon."

"Really? Trout mouth and chocolate thunder?"

"Yes. And I don't think he appreciates that nickname."

"Well, uh. Don't worry, Berry, I'm sure someone will ask you."

The lie had actually gotten Rachel's mind off of Tom's threat, but it also made her a bit sad to realize that she would in all likelihood be going to prom alone.


	10. Chapter 10

No fear, no fear, no fear. Rachel had been repeating the mantra ever since she had been summoned into Principal Figgins' office after Art History. She was currently waiting on the detectives to finish speaking with Sue Sylvester so that they could question her on what she had heard yesterday.

After Puck left her house yesterday night, staying until 9 for tutoring, Rachel had been debating over whether or not she would lie for Tom. She decided that giving into threats was not the Berry way. She had heard plenty of horror stories growing up about various heinous episodes that occurred during the early years of her fathers' relationship, but no matter how awful they had been treated at times they never let the hate stop them from being who they were or from doing what they wanted to do. Which is why Rachel was going to inform the police what she had been called in the hallway as well as the threat Thomas issued yesterday. Still, just because Rachel planned on telling the detectives what she knew did not mean she would be sharing it with Puck. He would kill Thomas, or at the very least thoroughly beat the boy, if she did, of this she was sure. Thus, Rachel thought it best to keep Puck in the dark for his own good.

When she finished telling the detectives everything that had happened, it was 3:45. The police thanked her for her time and for coming forward, despite his threats. Once excused, she set out to find her newly appointed driver. She found him waiting by her locker talking to Finn.

"Hey, Rachel, how did it go?"

"Hello, Finn. It went as well as could be expected I suppose."

"What'd the cops say?" asked Puck.

"They told be that although what happened in the hallway was unfortunate and they apologized that it happened to me, they informed me that it would help them seeing as they had not made much progress in the investigation so far. They plan on questioning Thomas later this afternoon."

"So that good right?" Rachel didn't want to douse Finn's optimism, but she couldn't help but express her doubts.

"It is in terms of giving the case some direction, but if the police do not bring charges against him, Thomas is not under any obligation to speak to them." Upon seeing Finn's face fall Rachel tried to offer some good news.

"But the good news is that Thomas is eighteen and the police can question him without his parents in the room." Puck didn't really get why that even mattered.

"And that's a good thing because?"

"Well, that way his parents cannot prompt him during the interview or provide the police with a false alibi." The boys nodded, trusting that Rachel's explanation was right.

"Well lets get going, I'm suppose to meet Artie in like ten so he can help me with math and we can work on our lab findings and I still gotta drop you off," head said, directing the last part to Rachel

"I can take Rachel home if you want," offered Finn. Puck wasn't too keen on that idea but he was running late and he figured Finn was a good a body guard as the next six three quarterback.

"You don't mind?"

"Nah, Quinn went home already and Blaine picked Kurt up like an hour ago."

"Don't keep Artie waiting, Noah. Finn and I will be fine," Rachel assured him.

"Trying to get rid of me, Berry. I'm hurt," Puck joked.

"Of course not," Rachel said, "But a courteous guest shows up on time."

Puck laughed, "Well I wouldn't want to be uncourteous."

"That's not a word, Noah."

"Fine, then I wouldn't want to be impolite."

"Excellent word choice." With that Puck said bye to the two former lovers and headed to his truck.

"Let me just grab something from Kurt's locker," Finn said, "Then we'll head out."

"Kurt's locker?" Rachel asked curiously.

"Yeah, actually maybe you could help. He said he was left a color wheel? Something about not knowing which shade of green would best…uh…compliment a lavender gown?" He hoped Rachel would know what Kurt was talking about.

Rachel smiled, "He's talking about Mercedes' prom dress. I believe they were thinking green heels."

"Green shoes? That's awesome!"

"Well you should let Mercedes' know. Women love compliments, Finn."

"I don't think, Quinn's too cool with me throwing those out since I broke your nose."

"Why would…" And then Rachel remembered he had called her beautiful that week in front of the whole club, including his insecure girlfriend.

"Yeah…" An awkward silence fell over them. Which happened from time to time as they were relearning how to be friends – just friends.

Trying to salvage the conversation Finn said, "So Puck says you were kind of bummed that no one had asked you to prom yet." Rachel wanted to laugh at Finn's attempt to steer their talk to safer waters.

"I just know it's unlikely someone will ask me with less than a two weeks to go." After saying it out loud Rachel realized how antiquated she sounded. If Elizabeth Cady Stanton were here she would be appalled to hear Rachel whining about being dateless. Rachel then assumed Ms. Stanton's contempt at her attitude would quickly be replaced by elation upon hearing women had won the vote. Rachel shook her head, leaving the scenario she had imagined behind.

Rachel saw that Finn had led them to Kurt's locker and was literally looking for a colorful bicycle-like wheel.

"It's right here, Finn," Rachel said grabbing the round flat piece of cardboard pressed against the locker wall.

"That's it?"

"Yes, see, although Kurt's is a bit more complex, the arranged colors allow one to see the relationship of one color to another." Finn seemed to study the little tool.

"Couldn't you just like use your eyes?"

"I suppose you could."

"Weird." Rachel smiled and then suggested they head to the parking lot.

"Hey," Finn said suddenly remembering something else Puck had told him while she had been in Figgins' office, "Your dad's are out of town right?"

"Yes. The trial began last week. Their clients are suing their former employer for refusing to promote them according to the office's seniority procedure because they were Arab Americans."

"Why's it all the way out in Cleveland?"

"Because, the company is based in Cleveland."

"Oh. Well, I remember that your family wasn't big on the whole cooking thing and my mom's making spaghetti tonight and she always makes extra so you could totally come over if you want." Rachel was touched that he would extend an invitation to her, risking upsetting his girlfriend just to make sure she had food.

"That's very nice of you, Finn, but I promise I stocked up on Amy's vegan dinners before my fathers left. Honestly, could go a whole month before ever having to step foot inside a supermarket."

"Well if you're sure…"

"Positive," she affirmed.

"Well alright then, let's get you home."

It was at 9 pm when Rachel heard one of the windows in the front of the house shatter.

**A/n: two chapters in 1 day? Madness. I guess I really don't want to study for my language exam. Just a quick thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to review or add the story to their favorites or alerts. It's a great feeling. Also SoUsay234 I think you're assessment of bigotry is spot on. If the subject matter ever comes up in conversation I'm totally using your socks comment. Thanks again everyone!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Le voy a matar!" Santana Lopez fumed. "Si él piense que se puede amenácerte – a amenácer una amiga de mia - sin consecuencia, él no conoce Santana López!"

Rachel had been listening to the angry Latina rant for a good hour now, alternating between English and Spanish (and Spanglish), and, as much as she appreciated her concern, Rachel just wanted to go to sleep and pretend this day never happened.

Rachel had been in the kitchen preparing some chamomile tea when she heard the living room window shatter, quickly followed by the sound of screeching tires. Rachel immediately ran up the kitchen stairs into her room, locking the door. She then hurried grabbed her cell phone and into her bathroom, once again locking the door behind her. After dialing 911 and informing the operator of her emergency, Rachel hung up and dialed Noah Puckerman's number. Pick up, pick up, pick up, she muttered. Nothing. She tried again; still no answer. She tried his house. Nothing. After another three attempts, Rachel decided that if she couldn't reach Puck her best alternative would be Santana Lopez. The Cheerio picked up after two rings.

"Yeah?"

"Oh thank god," Rachel let out relieved.

"Hello?" Santana was unaware Rachel had her number.

"Santana, it's Rachel. Rachel Berry," she added as if the Cheerio wouldn't recognize her voice.

"Berry? What do you want? Who gave you my number?" Yes, Santana was trying to be nicer to Rachel ever since the swastika incident, that didn't mean she was going to transform into a care bear over night; Rome wasn't built in a day.

"I'm so sorry to bother you Santana, especially on a school night, but Noah wasn't answering," she rushed out, "And something just happened; and, even though I called the police, I would really like to be with someone I know right now."

"The police!" If Rachel's panicked tone wasn't enough to alert the Latina her mention of the cops was.

"Yes, I believe someone just threw something through my window. I'm not really sure what; I've locked myself in the bathroom."

"I'm coming over now. Give me your address." Rachel quickly informed the girl of where she lived. She then gave a surprised shriek when she heard the doorbell.

"What? What's happening?" Santana yelled back seriously terrified. Upon realizing it was the police assistance she had requested earlier, Rachel took a steadying breath.

"I'm sorry Santana, the police are at my door. I'm a little on edge. I have to go now."

"Rachel," Santana said before she could hang up, "It's gonna be okay." Rachel nodded even though Santana couldn't see.

"Thank you Santana." With that the two ended the conversation. Rachel cautiously made her way to the first floor to open the door for the police.

Back at the Lopez household, Santana was pacing around her room, muttering various threats, all aimed at Thomas Harding.

"Voy a empujar la pie tan profundamente en su culo que chupará los dedos del pie hasta la graduación!" Rachel decided if either of them wanted to be of any use during glee rehearsals tomorrow they would need to get some sleep.

"Santana, I think it's time for us to get to bed. I don't want to upset your parents after they graciously offered their home to me for the night." Realizing the smaller girl was exhausted, Santana decided she'd put a moratorium on planning Harding's violent and gruesome demise until morning.

"Fine. But tomorrow I'm gonna skewer that boy, ass to face." Blocking that lovely image from her head, Rachel just nodded and walked over to the right side of the bed.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Rachel asked, "I told you I wouldn't mind taking the floor." Santana just rolled her eyes.

"Shut up Berry and get in," Santana said as she switched the lights off, "I wants to get my sleep on." Choosing not to comment on the grammatical mistakes behind the sentence, Rachel simply slid under the covers and was instantly asleep.

When Santana heard Rachel's breath even out she quietly grabbed her cell phone, texting Puck that she was taking the hobbit to school tomorrow. Rachel had begged her not to call the boy and inform him of what had transpired outside her house, promising her that she'd tell him tomorrow along with Sue and Principal Figgins – the cops on the scene had radioed the detectives handling the case so they were already aware that Rachel's house had been attacked. Santana eventually agreed, but she figured that if Puck drove to Rachel's house in the morning to find it empty and the window covered in yellow 'Do Not Cross: Crime Seen" tape he'd have a heart attack.

_Why? _Puck texted back.

_Because I'm treating her to breakfast so that she helps me cram for a history quiz._ Rachel wasn't the only girl who could lie on a dime.

_Get me a bagel. _He replied

_Fuck U. _

_U wish, Satan_

_No u wish. _

With that the two teens ended their voice-less conversation.

Rachel woke up in the morning a bit confused as to where she was as well as she seemed to be weighted down. Everything that had transpired the night before came back to her when she saw Santana's hand and leg draped over her – apparently the Latina liked to cuddle.

Although it felt rather nice to wake up with someone holding her, even if that someone was Santana Lopez, Rachel carefully freed herself from the girl's embrace and sat up, hanging her legs off to the side of the cheerleader's queen bed. Looking at her phone she realized they only had an hour to get shower, eat, and get to school. She also saw a text from Noah telling her that he wanted a bagel with cream cheese. Setting her confusion and phone aside, Rachel looked back at her bedmate and gently tried to rouse her.

"Santana," she said softly, "Santana." The sleeping girl's face scrunched.

"Nooo. Five minutes." Rachel giggled lightly. Had she of had this image of Santana earlier in her high school career, she doubted she would have feared the tan cheerleader as much as she had.

"Santana," she tried again, "We're going to be late to school." Realizing it wasn't Stephanie, her step-mother, who was trying to wake her up, Santana's eyes flew open.

"Berry? Wha…" Then Santana remembered Rachel had spent the night along with _why _she had spent the night. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Santana asked if she had slept all right. To which Rachel replied yes and thanked the girl once again for letting her stay over.

"Oh, would you happen to know why Noah randomly asked me for a bagel with cream cheese?" Santana explained why the boy would make such an outwardly odd request.

As the two hastily prepped for school and made a quick stop at the Lima Bean for some breakfast to go, Rachel found that Santana could be quite an affectionate person; she definitely did not seem to grasp or recognize the concept of personal space. Santana knew Rachel probably woke up in her arms; the Latina had been told on numerous occasions that she was a sleep cuddler and Santana remembered that in her dreams last night the smell of vanilla – the smell of Rachel's shampoo – had been all around her, leading the girl to assume she had most likely been nuzzled up close to Rachel's hair.

"And one bagel with cream cheese please." Santana heard Rachel finish up her order.

"Are you seriously buying Puck breakfast?" Santana knew a girl as small as Rachel would not be ordering a fruit cup and a bagel just for herself. She also knew a vegan would not be ordering cream cheese.

"He did ask," Rachel tried to defend herself, "And he probably will not eat anything at home seeing as he expects us to get him breakfast." Santana rolled her eyes. Once the barista finished up their orders, the two girls headed back to the car and drove to McKinley.

**A/n: If anyone watches **_**Buffy **_**then picture Rachel and Santana's relationship a bit like Willow and Evil Vampire Willow's (hands! hands!) It's short I know but I wanted to make sure I got something out today just in case I actually decide to study - unlikely but still…**


	12. Chapter 12

When Rachel and Santana entered the halls of McKinley High School the shorter girl let the Cheerio know she'd see her in history after she let Principal Figgins know what happened last night. Before walking away she reminded the Latina not to say anything to Puck. She promised she would break the news to the hot-tempered teen at lunch and then asked Santana if she could give Puck his bagel for her.

"Here, loser," Santana said, smacking the paper bagged bagel against Puck's chest. Puck looked down, surprised to see the girl had actually gotten him a food like he asked.

"Did you spit on it or something?" He asked raising an eyebrow

"That's the thanks I get?"

"Don't get mad at me," Puck responded, "It's a valid question."

"Whatever. I didn't do anything to it. I didn't even buy it for you. Berry did." At the mention of the petite brunette Puck looked behind Santana, wondering where the girl in question was.

"Where is she anyways? I thought you said she was helping you cram?" Santana was stunned. When she and Puck had dated the boy couldn't seem to be bothered to remember anything the cheerleader told him, but apparently if Rachel was involved the guy turned into an elephant – yeah, she watched animal planet (it was Brittany's favorite channel).

"We studied on the way. She had to go do something," she lied easily.

"What?"

"Something. Jeeze. Stalk much?" Santana ignored the dirty look he shot her, "No actually that's wrong. A stalker would pick up his phone when the stalkee calls him."

"It was on silent!" He said defensively, "And I called back later. But her cell was busy like the rest of the night." Puck's phone was on silent because when he studied with Artie the tutor made sure Puck had no distractions. Artie had implemented the policy thirty minutes into their first study session a few months ago when he realized Puck had been sexting some senior instead of calculating the data Artie was reading to him. As for the three calls to his home, Puck was in the shower and his sister couldn't be bothered to stop listening to Hannah Montana.

The reason Rachel's phone was busy for the majority of the night was because she had to call her dads and let them know what happened, which resulted in a two hour long struggle trying to convince the two men not to come home. They relented only when they were able to speak to Mrs. Stephanie Figueroa-Lopez, who assured the two lawyers that Rachel was more than welcome to stay in their home until the two men were finished with their case, which looked like it would be taking another week after a majority of the court room became sick from eating in the courthouse deli.

"Do you know what she needed?"

"She'll tell you at lunch." Thank kind of worried Puck. Why couldn't Santana just tell her now?

"Just tell me know." He tried.

"No." With that, she flipped her hair and walked away. _Bitch, _Puck thought. He obviously didn't say it out loud. Santana Lopez had ridiculous hearing, once, during a fight, she heard him mutter (like legit he could barely make out what had he said… and _he _said it) she was on the rags and she flipped aiming a foot below the belt. If Puck hadn't been so worry for his boys he would have found it hot.

In Principal Figgins' office Rachel was informing that man of her "little scare" the night before. The two were discussing steps the school could take, when Sue Sylvester burst through the door. The tall woman stopped Figgins when he attempted to tell the coach of the incident at the Berry residence.

"I know all about that Figgins. I own a police scanner." Both Rachel and Figgins tried to keep the shock off their faces. Sue let them know that as long as Harding was in school she would have the protection of one Sue Sylvester, then the coach let the girl know that if it was not Harding related she was not to speak with her, explaining that stupidity could be contagious – anyone who voluntarily participated in show choir was stupid in Sue's mind. Rachel accepted the woman's terms.

When lunchtime rolled around Rachel saw Puck outside her fourth period classroom, waiting for her to leave.

"Alright, so why'd you call me last night?"

"Hello, Noah. I'm fine thanking you for asking," Rachel stated, annoyed by his bad manners.

"Yeah. Yeah. Hi. So? What did you need? My cell was on silent. I tried calling you back but it was busy," he rushed. He actually called back ten times, getting a busy tone every time.

"Let's go to the choir room." When they arrived Rachel looked around to make sure they were alone and then she closed the door. Rachel was more nervous about telling Puck what had happened then she had been when she let the police know about Harding's threat.

"You have to promise you won't be mad." That might not have been the best way to start because all it managed to do was put Puck on edge.

"I'm gonna be mad if it's worth getting mad over." See, Puck thought, telling the truth was easy.

"Promise, Noah. Give me your word or I won't tell you." Rachel was not going to risk Puck's future because of Thomas' maliciousness. Figuring he'd rather be in the know then not, Puck relented and promised Rachel he'd keep his cool.

"Yesterday, when you were coming to pick me up from the Lima Bean, Thomas Harding threatened me." Rachel said with her eyes squeezed shut. When she didn't hear any reaction from Puck, she opened one eye to look at him. Puck's hands were locked in fists and he was practically shaking.

"Are you okay? Because there's more I have to say."

"Keep going." He pressed.

"I called you yesterday because someone through a brick through my-." Puck was out the door before she could finish.

"Noah, wait!" She yelled. She caught up to him in the hall and grabbed his elbow with both hands.

"Noah, stop," she tried again as he continued walking, dragging her with him.

"Noah!" Luckily, her protests gained Finn's attention; Rachel was lucky that the tall boy had not yet gone to the cafeteria. When he saw a very pissed off Puck practically hauling Rachel across the hall he quickly went to see what the problem was.

"Whoa, what's happening," Finn as he made hi way to the two teens. Rachel met Finn's eyes and he could immediately see that she looked terrified.

"Dude, stop. You're freaking her out." Hearing that he was scaring Rachel, Puck finally stopped. When he looked down he realized that the small girl was digging her nails into his arm. Using his other arm he placed it over one of Rachel's hand, causing her to look at him.

"I'll stop." Rachel held on for a bit longer not sure if she should trust him.

"I promise, but I want to hear the whole story this time, Rachel." Rachel nodded and the three made their way back into the choir room.

It was 3:30 and Thomas Harding was still alive, which Rachel would take as a victory. After giving Puck a word for word recount of what had occurred Rachel was afraid he was not going to be able to keep his temper in check, but he proved her wrong and stayed clear of Tom the whole day. Finn on the other hand managed to shove the boy "accidently" when they crossed paths in the hallway. Puck bought Finn two cheeseburgers after school to show his thanks; His tall friend was very grateful since he didn't have a chance to eat fifth period due to the whole trying to stop Puck from killing Tom in broad daylight thing. The boy didn't realize that it was Wednesday and thus cheeseburgers were only thirty-nine cents, which also played a role in Puck's generosity.

The entire glee club, minus Kurt, was in the choir room waiting for Mr. Schuester. The teacher finally showed up with Kurt following close behind, a huge smile on his face.

"I have exciting news guys!" Will let them know, "Principal Figgins wants us to be the musical act for the junior prom!" Not everyone saw this as good news; they weren't going to prom to be the entertainment, they were going to dance.

When Will saw some of his students' hesitant faces he immediately filled them on what was to go down. "Now I know most of you want to spend as much of the night as you can enjoying yourselves on the dance floor so…" he looked at Kurt, "I had Kurt see if the Warblers wouldn't mind helping out as well." That explained the smile.

"After a vote they took the request to headmaster Charleston and he and Figgins agreed that if New Directions at the Dalton-Sacred Heart (the all boy's sister school) prom he'd allow it," Kurt finished for Mr. Schuester.

"Kurt gave me a list of suitable songs in the Warbler repertoire so the New Directions just need to contribute around nine to ten songs," Will added. He let them know that they'd each have to do at least one song and those could be group, duets, and solo numbers. The teens spent the rest of the class thinking up songs they could do.

At one point Brittany asked Kurt to text Blaine to see if she could join in one of the Warbler songs she liked. Blaine, always the gentleman, immediately replied, telling Kurt to let the blonde girl know the Warblers would be honored to perform her. Rachel then asked Kurt how he was going to spend the night with Blaine if he was performing the whole time. Kurt, one step ahead of her, let Rachel know that Blaine would be relinquishing lead for the majority of the performances in order to spend the night with his boyfriend. After a couple of debates over what songs were lyrically appropriate for a high school dance – "I'm sorry, Artie, but you cannot do Baby Got Back."- Mr. Shue let the kids see the set list for prom:

01- Friday – Artie, Sam, and Puck

02 – Love Song - Artie

03 - Teenage Dream – Dalton Academy

04 - Hey, soul sister – Dalton Academy and Kurt

05 - When I get you alone – Dalton Academy and Kurt

06 - Dreaming of You – Rachel

07 - It Won't Be Long – Quinn, Santana, and Mercedes

08 - Mercy – Santana and Mercedes

09 - Bulletproof – Tina

10 - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You – Blaine, Tina, Brittany, and Lauren

11 - Good Girls Go Bad – Brittany and Dalton Academy

12 - I Gotta Feeling – Dalton Academy

13 – Dance Floor Anthem– Dalton Academy

14 – Use Somebody – Finn and Sam

15 – I Never Told You – Rachel

16 – I Love You Baby – Dalton Academy

17 – Here It Goes – Dalton Academy

18 – Beautiful Girls – Dalton Academy

19 – Human – Dalton Academy

20 – Forever Young – Dalton Academy

21 - TBA – Puck (he asked Mr. Shue to keep it a surprise)

Will thought twenty-one songs would get them at least through 10:30 if he factored in stopping for the announcement of prom king and queen, and their dance to Lifehouse's You & Me. He figured he could just play a CD for the last hour, doubting many students would stay until 11:30.

After practice, Rachel pulled Puck aside and let him know she how proud she was of him for being the better man and not lowering himself to Thomas' level. Puck tried to act as her praise hadn't caused his chest to swell. Rachel saw that Puck seemed as if he wanted to say something. He looked over at Artie, who's face seemed to be trying to tell him 'do it', but before Puck could sum up the courage Santana's voice ruined the moment.

"Let's go Berry, Brit and I don't have all day." Santana Lopez: moment killer, Puck thought.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Noah." With that she walked over to join Brittany and Santana as the walked out the door to the parking lot.

Once the girls were gone, Artie rolled up to Puck asking him what happened.

"It wasn't the right time." In response to that weak line, Artie coughed, coward.

"Shut up."

Out in the parking lot Rachel immediately pointed out that Santana's red two-seater could not safely transport the three of them.

"You'll sit on my lap," Brittany offered as a solution, "And I'll hold you tight like a seat belt." Rachel assumed this is why Santana didn't respect personal space: her best friend had never heard of the concept.

"That's very sweet Brit-"

"Just get in the car, Berry. Brit lives like two minutes away." Seeing that she still didn't look convinced Santana threw in that she would drive slowly, "like ten miles an hour slow."

"Five."

"Deal."

**You're all the best! I'm glad many of you like the story line. And thanks So Usay234 for the Spanish corrections :) I was relying on whatever my brain could recall from HS and my Mac translator. I wonder if anyone could guess what song Puck wants to sing. **

**Artists & Songs: **

**01- Friday – Rebecca Black **

**02 – Love Song – Sara Bareilles**

**03 - Teenage Dream – Katy Perry **

**04 - Hey, soul sister – Train **

**05 - When I Get You Alone – Robin Thicke **

**06 - Dreaming of You – Selena**

**07 - It Won't Be Long – The Beatles**

**08 - Mercy - Duffy **

**09 - Bulletproof – La Roux **

**10 - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You – Black Kids **

**11 - Good Girls Go Bad – Cobra Staship (ft. Leighton Meester)**

**12 - I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas **

**13 – Dance Floor Anthem– Good Charlotte **

**14 – Use Somebody – Kings of Leon (hopefully they don't have a problem being used in a Glee FANFIC) **

**15 – I Never Told You – Colbie Caillat**

**16 – I Love You Baby – Four Seasons**

**17 – Here It Goes – Jimmy Eat World **

**18 – Beautiful Girls – Sean Kingston **

**19 – Human – The Killers **

**20 – Forever Young – Alphaville**


	13. Chapter 13

When Friday afternoon rolled around Rachel was a bit depressed. First off she only had a week left to find a date to prom (sorry Ms. Stanton) and Friday's movie night was obviously not going to happen due to Thomas Harding's actions Tuesday night.

"If you continue to frown, wrinkles are going to form," lectured Kurt. After practice, Rachel, Kurt, and Mercedes had gone to the mall searching for dresses; Kurt was obviously their as a fashion consultant. After what seemed like 100 dresses, Mercedes had found the perfect magenta dress. Even better she was able to get it at a ridiculous discount because there was a tear on the bottom of the skirt that her mother could easily fix. Rachel was still dress-less (and dateless, she though bitterly) but after two and half hours of shopping she was ready to call it a day. The three friends were currently sitting at the food court people watching.

"So, tell us how is living with Santana working out?" Kurt asked curiously.

"You know my brother's room is available if you want to get out of the Lopez household." Mercedes offered.

"Thank you, Mercedes, but so far I am enjoying my stay at the Lopez residence." In fact, Rachel pretty much loved lodging in the Lopez household. Dr. and Mrs. Lopez were very sweet people, which made her wonder what happened to Santana. In the three days she had been there, they had gone out of their way to make sure Rachel was comfortable, including altering their diet to accommodate her vegan diet. Rachel tried to tell Mrs. Figueroa-Lopez – "Call me Stephanie" - that she could just heat up some Amy's frozen dinners she brought with her from home, but the maternal woman was having none of it. Also, Rachel actually liked waking up in Santana's arms. She wasn't sexually attracted to the Latina, but the action made her feel loved and safe.

"Well if you change your mind or Santana tries to murder you in your sleep, you have an open invitation."

"I will keep that in mind." Kurt looked at his watch.

"So do you two want to go catch a movie?" He could immediately tell Rachel did not like that idea.

"If it's alright with you two I think I'd like to call it a night," she stated hesitantly. She felt bad because she didn't want them to cut their night short on account of her, but Kurt was her ride. Sensing her guilt, Mercedes quickly let her know she was beat too.

When Kurt and Rachel arrived at Santana's they were surprised to see Puck's truck parked outside.

"This is interesting," Kurt commented. Rachel didn't know why her chest seemed to hurt at the thought that Puck and Santana were having a late night rendezvous (more like 8 pm rendezvous). Getting out of his car, Rachel thanked Kurt for the ride and told him that she'd see him on Monday. Rachel knocked on the large wooden doors and waited for Santana to let her it. Instead of Santana it was Puck who let her in.

"It's about time, Berry."

"I'm sorry?" Rachel was unsure what Puck was talking about.

"Friday? Movie night? Ring any bells?" Rachel had to bite her cheeks to keep her smile from breaking her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Kurt wouldn't let me or Mercedes leave the mall until at least one of us had a dress," she said trying to act as if she had always known movie-night was still on.

"Well head up to Santana's room and I'll take up the popcorn." Rachel gladly did as told. When she opened the door to the room her eyes widened when she caught Brittany and Santana making out on the Latina's bed. Upon hearing the door open Santana quickly pushed herself off Brittany.

"I'm sorry! I should have knocked," Rachel said looking down. Santana looked ready to rip her houseguest in two.

"Damnit, Berry!" Brittany wasn't mad like Santana. She was actually happy they had been caught. Maybe now Santana wouldn't mind going public. Brittany and Artie broke up last week when the boy called her stupid. Santana had been ecstatic and, after getting over the hurt of loosing Artie, Brittany had too, thinking now she and Santana could be together like normal couples, but the Latina told her they had to keep their relationship a secret.

"It was an accident, San," Brittany said in an effort to calm the girl down. Santana looked at her girlfriend and back at Rachel.

"Fine, but you keep your mouth shut, Treasure Trail." Upon hearing the old nickname come out of Santana's mouth tears came to Rachel's eyes. It had been almost two weeks since Santana had insulted her like that. Rachel thought the two girls were really growing closer; now she realized Santana just felt sorry for her after the swastika incident, she didn't really see her as a friend, and judging by the look on Santana's face, the girl's last drops of sympathy had probably dried up.

"I won't say a word, Santana," Rachel promised, "But you should know Puck will be up here shortly." Rachel felt herself loosing the battle to keep the tears at bay so she quickly excused herself, stating she needed to use the restroom. As she bolted from the room, she accidently bumped into Puck in the hallway causing him to almost dropped the bowl of popcorn.

"Sorry, Noah. Go ahead and start the movie I'll be back momentarily," she rushed. Puck's brow furrowed. As he handed Brittany the bowl of popcorn, he asked if there was a problem.

"Nothing." Santana said in a tersely. Puck looked at Brittany, obviously not believing the brunette.

"Nothing. Rachel just had to go to the bathroom," Brittany said feeling guilty.

"Are we doing this or not?" Santana snapped as she pressed play. She then told Puck to get the lights and sit his ass down.

Rachel was locked in the hallway bathroom dabbing under her eyes trying to compose herself before she joined the other three in the bedroom. She told herself that she'd keep herself scarce the rest of the weekend and on Monday she would ask Mercedes if could move into her older brother's room. When she returned to Santana's room the opening credits were just coming to a close. Santana and Brittany were on the bed. Puck was on the floor, knees bent and back supported by the bed. Rachel decided it safest to sit by Noah.

Keeping herself out of Santana's sight Saturday wasn't too hard. Puck picked her up for Temple in the morning and after that she was in dance till three at the community college. She then showered in the locker room and studied in the college library till it closed at 6:30. Puck picked her up and dropped her off at the Lopez house, despite the fact that she had told him when he had originally dropped her off at dance that she could take the bus back.

When she arrived at her temporary home, Rachel sat through an awkward and tense dinner. After volunteering to do the dishes, Rachel heard Santana telling Stephanie that she was going to a party. When her step-mom asked if she was taking Rachel, Santana responded that she already asked the other brunette and that she hadn't wanted to go. By the time the Latina was outside Rachel had gone upstairs, chained into her PJs, and put her headphones on. While lying on the bed she decided to see if Mercedes could have her a day earlier and texted her friend if she wouldn't mind her moving in tomorrow afternoon. Mercedes let her know that would not be a problem. Mercedes then texted Rachel if the honeymoon was over. Rachel sighed and replied that she just wanted to stay closer to school. She then thanked Mercedes for agreeing to house her. Afterwards she went back to listening to her ipod until she fell asleep on the very edge of the bed.

On Sunday morning Rachel woke up later than she would have liked. She did her best not to disturb Santana as she left to go to the kitchen and prepare breakfast for herself. After allowing her meal to digest, she quietly returned to Santana's room in order to dress for her run. Since her elliptical was out of the question, Rachel had been running too ensure that her exercise regiment didn't suffer. She made her way downstairs and bid the Dr. and Mrs. Lopez good morning. After some polite chit-chat she made her way out the door.

Santana was sitting on her couch reading a magazine hoping to get ideas for her prom make up when she heard a light knock on the door. Putting the magazine aside, the girl pushed herself off the couch and went to see who was at the door.

"Who is it?" When she got no answer, she asked again. This time she heard a faint "it's Rachel" in response to her question. Santana was not prepared for the sight that lay behind the door. Rachel was a mess. The petite brunette's hair looked like a bird's nest. The side of her top lip was split, swelling to twice its normal size. She had blood running down from the top of her hairline to the right side of her face. Two large bruises were forming on her left arm, one circling her elbow, the other her wrist. Both her palms were scraped up and bleeding, as was her left knee; and, although Santana couldn't see, on her back there was a large welt forming along the right scapula and shoulder.

"Oh my god, Rachel!" Santana exclaimed, eyes bulging, when she saw her, "What happened?"

Not waiting for a response, she led a dazed, bruised, and bleeding Rachel to the couch while calling out for her father.

"Dad! Dad!" Footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

"What! What is it? What's wrong?" The man yelled, his heart racing at hearing the panic in his little girl's voice.

Santana moved aside so that he could see Rachel. Now understanding what had his daughter so alarmed, the doctor took control of the situation.

"Santana, I need you to go up to my bathroom and grab me some iodine, gauze, tweezers, A&D ointment, and clear medical tape." Santana nodded.

"I'm going to take Rachel to the downstairs bathroom to clean out the cuts on her face." The Cheerio quickly ran up the stairs in search of the supplies her dad requested. Kneeling down to Rachel's eye level, Dr. Lopez gently tried to encourage the girl to walk to the bathroom.

"Rachel." The injured girl looked at him, "Sweetheart, I'm going to need to clean out these scraps." Rachel just continued to stare at him.

"Rachel," he tried again, "Let's go to the bathroom ok?" The scared teen finally seemed to really hear him. She nodded and let her self be led to the bathroom. Dr. Lopez sat her down on the closed toilet lid and began wetting a washcloth under warm water.

"This may hurt a little." He gently pushed the girls hair aside to deal with the laceration on her hairline. His touch didn't even seem to register in Rachel's mind. Luckily, the doctor noticed, the injury wasn't very large or deep. The amount of blood was mostly due to the cut's position on the face, which housed a great deal of blood vessels. He rinsed the cloth and wiped away the smeared blood along her jawline and chin. After running the cloth under the water again he moved her lip, lightly dabbing away and dirty, dried blood. While all this was going on Rachel just sat there silently. When Santana returned with the items in hand, her dad asked her to set them on the floor by his feet and to go and fill up three zip-lock bags with ice and to also bring three small thin washcloths as well. When she returned Santana stayed by the door trying not to cry.

When he had finished rinsing all her cuts. He used his tweezers to pick out any visible debris that had imbedded itself into her injured hands and knee. After, he cleansed the abrasions with iodine and then dried them off so he could dab the A&D ointment on them. He carefully wrapped her palms in gauze and began working on wrapping two ice backs to her back and tried to secure one by her elbow.

After her father had finished, Santana rushed to Rachel's side and hugged the girl tightly, softly whispering that she was okay and that she was safe. Santana's tender words seem to be the trigger Rachel needed to open her self up to all the emotions she had been suppressing ever since she had had escaped her attacker. Her shoulders shook as she held onto the Latina as if she were a lifeline.

Puck was trying not to kill his little sister as they shopped for the items their mother had asked for. His mother had sent the two of them to the grocery store because there was nothing in the fridge and she was too tire to go herself after having just finished a double shift at the hospital. Jessica was running up and down the isles trying to grab every Hannah Montana endorsed product. The Puckermans always bought generic to save money, but the little girl always tried to sneak in a brand name whenever she could, perhaps it would work better if all of the boxes she was grabbing weren't bright pink.

Half an hour into their trip Miriam tried calling her son to let him know to also add orange juice to the list but he wasn't answering. When she heard the ringtone he had for her (the Imperial March, aka the Darth Vader theme song) go off upstairs she realized he had left this phone in his room…again, she thought. She shrugged and figured she could survive without OJ. As she made her way to bed she heard someone else calling her son.

Jessica and Noah had arrived about forty five minutes after Miriam had gone to bed.

"Jess, if you stay there I'm gonna let your ice cream melt," he threatened.

"I don't care!" The little girl responded. Puck decided to pull out the big guns.

"Fine, if you don't help me get this food into the house, I'm dumping all of the Hannah Montana cereal on the lawn." Fine, he caved and bought her the stupid cereal, but in his defense it was either that or leave her in isle 5 to rot. Luckily, the threat on the sugary and nutritionally lacking cereal did the trick, sort of. Jessica did get out of the car, but she only helped carry in two bags before going to the couch and turning on the CD.

"This isn't over," he told her. After finishing up, he grabbed the remote from her hand and changed the channel to what he wanted. Miriam woke up around two in the afternoon and joined her children downstairs.

"Noah," his mom interrupted, "You left your phone upstairs this morning." When she said that he patted his pockets.

"Someone called you twice, I think I heard the phrase 'cold hard bitch' when it rang," she said, not amused with his choice in ringtones. Santana, he thought. When he got to his room he had to use the house phone to call his cell because he couldn't see it. He heard it under his bed. Seeing that he had two missed calls and one voicemail from Santana he pressed 1 to hear her message. When the girl's frantic voice reached his ear he almost dropped the phone.

_Puck you need to come over right now. Rachel's hurt. She's bleeding. Fuck. I dunno what happened. My dad's with her in the bathroom right now. Hurry. _

Puck didn't even bother telling his mom he was leaving. He just hauled ass down the stairs, grabbed his coat and keys, and was out the door. He made it to the Lopez house in record time and began pounding on the door. Dr. Lopez who had his cell pressed to his ear, opened the door for him and put his mouth over the mouthpiece, the man simply told him "upstairs" before he was back listening to whoever was on the other end.

When Puck made it to Santana's room he saw that the two girls were lying in bed over the covers. Santana's back was to the door obscuring Rachel from his view. He could only see the Latina lovingly running her hands through Rachel's wet hair.

"Rachel." The two girls looked to see who had joined them. Upon seeing Puck a whole new batch of tears made their way to Santana's eyes. Puck immediately walked to the other side of Santana's bed and got in and put his arms around Rachel, careful to avoid disturbing her wounds, which had been rewrapped and re-iced by Dr. Lopez after Rachel had been able to take a shower after speaking to the cops downstairs. The three stayed in bed for what felt like hours. Eventually Puck and Santana realized that the girl had fallen asleep; the Advil PM Dr. Lopez had given her after her shower to help with the pain finally working its magic.

Puck and Santana quietly made her way out of the room.

"What the fuck happened?" Puck finally asked. Santana gestured with her head for him to follow her into her dad's study. Her tears from earlier had dried but she still looked like shit.

"She got attack when she was out running," Santana began to explain as she closed the door behind her.

"She told the cops that Harding surprised her when she was running next to the closed down gas station. You know the one across the street from that tree Lawrence crashed his car into last month?" Puck nodded, knowing the spot.

"She said was running with her headphones on and she didn't realize he was behind her until he had shoved her against the wall, that's how she hurt her head." Puck felt as sick as Santana looked.

"She said he grabbed her hard and she could hear other another voice yelling nearby. She kneed him in the groin to get away." Puck was proud that Rachel had fought back.

Santana continued, "Which is when he back handed her, splitting her lip. She did it again and was able to claw his cheek. He let go and she almost got away then, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist to pull her back, so she used her other hand to punch him in the nose. She ran away after that and at one point she tripped so her hands and knee are fucked up." When she finished the tears were back and Puck looked like a mixture between pure rage and utter devastation.

"Where's Harding now?" Santana wiped the tears and smiled.

"He was picked up about an hour ago. The cops told us a unit was dispatched to his house and his injuries matched Rachel's story. He told the cops that he got them playing hockey, but they told him he could explain it at the station." Puck was glad that Harding was finally gonna get his, but he really wished he could be the one to dish it.

There was a knock downstairs and the two heard Dr. Lopez open the door. After calling the police Dr. Lopez had phoned Rachel's parents and even though the trial was far from over Mr. Julius Berry had immediately gotten in his car to drive back to Lima, letting Hiram know he would call him as soon as he arrived to let him know how Rachel was doing. Hiram obviously wanted to go to but one of them needed to stay and it was killing him that he had to be the to do it.

Dr. Lopez opened the door to find a distraught six-three black man pacing back and forth on his patio.

"Mr. Berry?" Dr. Lopez said assuming the upset man was the person he had spoken to earlier on the phone. Julius stopped pacing and turned to face the doctor.

"How is she?" Mr. Berry hated being rude, but until he could physically see that his daughter was okay he didn't think he could partake in pleasantries. Dr. Lopez moved aside to let him in, all while listing her injuries and assuring him she would be fine.

"I believe she's sleeping now," the doctor told the parent, "the only ibuprofen we had left in the house was Advil PM. She's in my daughter's room right now. Come on I'll take you to her." When he saw his daughter Julius immediately wrapped the sleeping girls in his arms. Rachel stirred. Puck and Santana stood by Dr. Lopez watching the father.

"Daddy?" She asked not fully awake.

"Shhh, Starshine, go back to sleep." Her eyes were closed before he even finished the sentence. Once Julius gently loaded her into the car, he turned and firmly shook Christopher Lopez' hand letting him know how grateful he and his husband were to the man and his family.

"If she's in any pain when she wakes up or if you have any other questions concerning her injuries please do not hesitate to call," the doctor stated, adding that he had no problem making a house calls.

**I wasn't a big fan of this chapter. It's kind of a cliché Rachel gets hurt scenario but whatever. I was like 1000 words in and I didn't feel like starting over. **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rachel woke up Sunday evening to find that she was in her own room, but she wasn't alone; a sleeping Santana was pressed up against her. Rachel smiled. She remembered how great Santana had been when she had made it back to the Lopez residence earlier that morning. The Cheerio had held the girl's hand as she recounted the attack to the police in the Lopez living room and when she had finally been able to shower and lie down on Santana's bed, the taller girl lied down right next to her while she repeatedly told her, just like she had after Dr. Lopez had finished cleaning her cuts, that she was okay and that she was safe. Rachel figured that someone who would show her that kind of love and support wouldn't simply be hanging out with her out of sympathy or a misplaced sense of obligation. She came to the conclusion that Santana had simply lashed out because she was simply afraid that her sexual affair with Brittany would be publicized before the she was fully prepared to emotionally deal with the consequences.

Rachel could hear several voices outside her room and was curious as to what was occurring downstairs. Figuring she should wake the girl so that she could properly thank her for her support throughout the whole ordeal. It only took two light shakes to rouse Santana, who had only been slightly dozing.

"Hey," the Cheerio said when Rachel's face came into view, "You okay?" Rachel nodded. When Santana sat up, Rachel threw her arms around her, causing Santana to smile and return the hug.

"Thank you, Santana," Rachel said simply. Rachel only broke the hug off when Santana's hands traveled a bit too far south and settled on the lowest part of Rachel that was not making contact with the bed.

"Hands! Hands!" Rachel cried out. Santana laughed. When the Latina pulled back, Santana's smile left her face and she looked Rachel in the eye.

"Rachel, I am sooo sorry for Friday." Rachel didn't need an apology, as far as she was concerned, after this morning, Santana should be nominated for Sainthood. She wondered if the Pope would take a Jewish girl's nomination under consideration.

"Santana, you don't have to apologize."

"Yes. I do," she quickly replied, "I just freaked out and I didn't mean it. And I'm sorry." Rachel just hugged her again. Santana's hands once again began to wander.

"Hands stay up," Rachel giggled. When they pulled apart for the second time, they heard a knock on the door. The two girls turned and saw Brittany poking her head in.

"Can I join yet?" the blonde girl asked. Santana and Rachel let the dancer know she could come in. Brittany squeezed in behind Santana settling her hand on her girlfriend's waist.

"Everyone's still downstairs," Brittany told Santana.

"Everyone?" questioned Rachel.

"Glee club," explained Santana, "After your dad took you home, Puck and I followed in the car and then I called Brit and told her to meet us at your house."

"San told me to tell everyone else what happened, so I just called Kurt." The soprano had taken over for Brittany and within three minutes of her phone call the entire club, as well as Blaine, had been informed.

"You didn't have to do that," Rachel said. Santana and Brittany both rolled their eyes. Rachel and Brittany moved to head downstairs, but they realized Santana wasn't following.

"Brit and I are together." Brittany looked like Santana had just told her Lord Tubbington was going to have kittens. She was so happy that Santana had finally admitted it, even if it was just to one person.

"Brittany S. Pierce is my girlfriend." All three girls in the room were smiling. Santana turned to look at the other cheerleader.

"I'm sorry if I made it seem as if I was ashamed of you. Ashamed of us," Santana apologized to the blonde sincerely, "You're amazing Brit and I could never be embarrassed of you." While Santana was usually nicer when it came to Brittany, she rarely showed such affectionate and heartfelt sentiments with the girl, let alone in front of a third party. Santana didn't know if she was ready to come out, but she wanted Brittany to know how much she meant to her.

Rachel, feeling as if the two had more private things to say to each other, told the girls that they could use her room to talk and quietly shut the door on her way out. She heard her father speaking to someone on the phone, most likely her Dad since he called the person on the other line 'baby'. When Julius saw her enter his room he smiled and interrupted his significant other.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Julius passed the phone over to her as she sat down on the bed's edge next to him.

"Rachel, startshine, are you alright?" Hiram rushed out.

"I'm fine, Dad, just a couple of scrapes and bruises."

"Scrapes!" Hiram exclaimed. Julius, knowing his husband's melodramatic tendencies when it came to broken skin, had left that part out of the story. He could hear Hiram now yelling out over the receiver.

"Julius Leon Berry! You told me she just had a bruised arm!" Rachel, who had moved the phone away form her ear to save her hearing came to her father's rescue.

"Don't be mad at Daddy, you know you don't handle blood well. Also, they're very tiny scrapes. In all likelihood they'll be healed before you return home." As Hiram began bombarding her with questions about her physical health, emotional well being, and every other possible topic under the son, Julius took the phone and let the man know that Rachel had to go and make sure the large group of teenagers downstairs weren't eating them out of house and home.

When she went down the stairs she could see Blaine and the rest of the club seated around the sofa and chairs they had brought in from the dinning room, the only person missing was Puck.

Although he had come to secretly like the gleeks, Puck just needed time alone to process everything. He was staring out into the yard thinking about the same thing he had been ever since he had seen Rachel on Santana's bed: it could have been so much worse. Worst-case scenarios continued to run through his head and he just needed some air.

Kurt was the first to notice that Rachel was no longer asleep upstairs.

"Diva!" He exclaimed, quickly making his way to her. As he looked her over, Kurt's eyes became wet. Seeing that he was too afraid of hurting her, Rachel took the initiative and hugged her friend. After thanking everyone for coming and reassuring them that she was all right, the majority of the kids started to make their leave. Rachel asked were Noah was.

"Out in the back," answered Finn. Rachel went outside and found Puck sitting on steps of the back porch. She sat down next to him and he draped an arm around her shoulders. In return she put her head on his shoulder. The two just sat there, the presence of the other silently reassuring each that things would be okay.

On Monday morning Rachel went to Santana's locker holding four Tupperware containers.

"These are for your father and Stephanie," the shorter girl said as she handed Santana three boxes, "They're my world famous sugar cookies." Santana looked through the clear plastic containers.

"Are these in the shape of stethoscopes?"

"And Caducei. I outlined them with black frosting because the shape alone was a bit vague and perplexing."

"Impressive." After Santana put them in her locker, Rachel then handed her the fourth box.

"And this batch is for you." Santana saw that her cookies where frosted red and white and in the shapes of hearts, cheerleading outfits and bullhorns with Go Santana written on them.

"These are awesome, Berry!" she said taking a bite of one of the heart shaped ones.

"We'll my father and I just wanted you to know how grateful I am to you and your family for this past week. He didn't help bake them, though. I thought it best not to show my appreciation through food poisoning." Santana laughed and placed the forth box into her locker as well. The two then walked pinkie and pinkie to history.

As Puck was walking through the halls before sixth one of the hockey players caught his eye. John Arnold was Thomas' closest friend in Lima. Something about Santana's recount of what happened to Rachel suddenly popped into his head: _she said he grabbed her hard and she could hear other another voice yelling nearby_. Deciding to listen to his gut, Puck approached the other teen at his locker.

"'Sup John." Puck noticed that John was purposely avoiding eye contact and that he looked like he hadn't slept in over 24 hours.

"Puckerman?" The boy sounded nervous. Deciding not to beat around the bush, Puck asked what he wanted to know.

"Tell me, what kind of coward beats up a girl?" Puck was referring to Thomas, but John's response surprised him.

"I never touched her!" A couple of students around turned to look what appeared to be worthwhile drama.

"You were with him?" Puck's fist made contact with the locker.

"You piece of shit!"

"I was in the car! He said he just wanted to scare her. I didn't know what he was gonna do," the boy tried to explain himself.

"Didn't know what he was gonna do? The psycho spray painted her locker with a swastika and drew 'kike' all over the school!"

"I know but-"

"But what? He threw a brick through her window! What did you think was gonna happen?"

"Not that! I mean I just thought he was gonna scare her that's all. I mean we all do shit like that all the time." When he saw that Puck was confused and wanted him to continue.

"We call that Hummel kid faggot and, when Sue's not around, Becky retarded. No one cares. I mean we've been doing shit like that since freshmen year. Hell, you throw Jewfro into the dumpster like every other day." Puck understood John's logic: if the school tolerated one form of bullying why would John assume they wouldn't tolerate another. Still that didn't mean Puck wasn't gonna kick the shit out of this kid.

"I tried to stop him!" Puck grabbed John's jacket, but before he raised his fist, he tried to reel his temper in.

"Listen, this is what you're going to do. You're going to come with me to Figgins' office and tell him everything that went down. Then when he calls the cops you're gonna tell them. And maybe if you're lucky I won't have to kill you." John did as told, relieved that he was going to live another day and that he could get what happened off his chest. After giving his statement John was then taken away to the station for a more in depth interrogation.

Although Julius Berry had been helping his life (and legal) partner Hiram work on his summation from home on Tuesday when Kurt told the man that his daughter had yet to buy a dress for prom, which was two days away, Julius immediately grabbed his credit card and went shopping.

During rehearsals that same day Rachel pulled Quinn aside as the rest of the kids were listening to Tina's rendition of Bulletproof.

"Quinn, for the last time, I swear 'I Never Told You' is not directed at Finn." The prom queen nominee had been giving Rachel the evil eye ever since she rehearsed it for the class.

"While I admit I do tend to choose songs based on their strange ability to narrate episodes in my life, I promise I just like Colbie Callait."

"I believe you."

"Are you sure? Because you still look like you want to slap me."

"Sorry. That's just habit. And yes, I'm sure." Although Rachel still wasn't Quinn's favorite person, the girl, like all the gleeks, had noticed Puck and Rachel's relationship grow. And, even though the two seemed determined not to admit it to one another, she could tell they liked each other more than just in a friendly way.

When Puck and Rachel stepped into her house after Glee they were confused as to why the living room couch had four dresses laid out over it.

"Daddy?" Rachel called out. Julius stepped out of the kitchen holding a takeout bowl of udon noodles and chop sticks close to his face.

"Oh good your home," the father said, placing his dinner on the dinning table.

"Hello, Noah."

"Hey, Mr. Berry."

"Noah, I told you call me Julius."

"Right. Sorry, – I mean Julius."

"Daddy, why is the sofa covered in dresses?"

"Kurt Hummel called me during lunch this afternoon and told me that you had yet to buy a dress for your junior prom. So I took the liberty of purchasing some options for you." Julius knew his daughter very well so before she could protest about the charges to his card he informed her that he would return the dresses she didn't choose. When he saw Puck getting ready to walk back to his truck, Julius jumped in – Kurt also told him Rachel still didn't have a date to prom either.

"Noah, why don't you stay? We have plenty of take out from Mr. Mioko's and I promise most of it has meat in it," sensing that Puck didn't look convinced Julius added that Rachel would need a second opinion on which dress looked best.

"Daddy, Noah doesn't want to stay and watch me try on dresses," the girl stepped in, trying to save the boy. Puck thought that wasn't really accurate; he'd love to watch Berry repeatedly take off her clothes, he'd just rather do it in like a lingerie store or a bedroom.

"I won't take no for an answer," Julius said jokingly. The joke however was lost on Puck who could only think 'do not piss off the six-foot-three black father.' Puck called his mom and let her know that he'd be eating at Berry's he could have sworn she squealed. Miriam quickly tried to play it off as a coughing fit.

"Mom?"

"Sorry, Noah, just a bug in my throat." Puck rolled his eyes; he knew an excited-Jewish-mother squeal when he heard one. Miriam told her son to be polite and then she added to try to keep his shirt from wrinkling (what?). The mother then hung up.

Rachel told Puck to go help himself to some takeout while she changed. Julius Berry, aside from being one of Ohio's most sought after attorneys, was an excellent stylist. Each dress he chose for his daughter was better than the next. Puck wasn't much help; he said they all looked good. Puck wanted to give her other, more strongly worded, compliments but he figured it would go against his 'do not piss off the six-foot-three black father' plan. Even though the bruises on her back and arm were still visible, having now turned sickly greenish-yellow color, Rachel decided that she would choose dress number three: the strapless baby pink gown that was synched at the waist.

Puck was at Artie's house working on his math homework Wednesday evening when the conversation suddenly shifted to Prom.

"Dude, just ask her already," Artie stated, "Prom's in like three days. If you don't ask her, then I'm gonna do it."

"Do that and I'll roll you off a cliff." Puck retorted.

"But then who will my date dance with?"

"Ha Ha. You're a funny guy," Puck said unamused.

"Look," Artie said trying to build up his friend's confidence, "She's not gonna say 'no.'" Puck looked skeptical.

"She spends like every free second of her day with you," Artie explained as if he were talking to a five year old. "And Kurt told me he heard to her refer to Friday as Noah-Rachel movie night. Trust me. She _wants _you to ask her. She _waiting _for you to ask her. So nut up already and do it."

On Thursday Santana threw her water bottle at Pucks balls.

"What the hell, Satana?" Puck yelled. He managed to protect his boys, but he kept his hands employed as a makeshift cup.

"Just checking to see if they're still there."

"What?" 

"Be a man and ask her out." Was her only response.

By the time Friday rolled around, Puck had yet to ask Rachel. Ever since Santana tried to castrate him he'd been keeping his hands over his zipper every time he was in her presence – that shit was traumatizing. However, he wasn't expecting Brittany to toss her water bottle at him and he went down.

"Sorry Puck," Brittany said, standing over the boy, "But, San said you wouldn't see it coming if I did it. Like a blizzard attack." She meant blitz. Knowing he'd just cause more pain for himself if he got mad at or upset Santana Lopez' girlfriend – only the Gleeks were told of their official status – he just nodded and tried to breathe through the pain.

Friday night found Rachel and Puck in her living room watching Jurrasic Park. During the scene where Dr. Grant was feeding the brontosaurus Puck grabbed the remote and pressed paused.

"Did you need to use the restroom, Noah?" Rachel asked trying to figure out why he had stopped the movie.

"No, I needed to ask you something." Taking a breath, he popped the question.

"Would you like to go to prom with me?"

"Is this because Santana has been throwing things at your….well um _that _area?"

"No this is because I like you and I want to go to the dance with you." Rachel smiled.

"Well I don't know. I mean Artie did ask me…" Upon seeing his face, Rachel laughed and quickly informed him she was joking.

"I'm kidding, Noah. Artie told me to say that when you asked."

"Are there any cliffs in Lima?" Puck grumbled.

"I would be honored to go with you, Noah." A quiet 'yes!' could be heard from the kitchen. Apparently Puck wasn't the only one with a Jewish mother. Both teens shook their heads and tried to act as if they hadn't heard Julius and Hiram, who had returned Thursday evening. Not wanting to make a big deal about it Puck said cool and then hit play. Rachel just snuggled up closer to him.

Prom was a hit. With the money Figgins had saved on music he was able to rent out a dinning hall in one of the nicest hotels in Lima. The Warblers did a fantastic job and did the New Directions. Also, many of the McKinley girls who had come without dates were excited because, when ever they were able, the boys from Dalton Academy would ask them to dance.

As expected Quinn and Finn won the crown. Quinn was over the moon. Finn was just happy his girlfriend was happy. The floor cleared so that the two could share a dance to Lifehouse's You & Me, sung brilliantly by Blaine. As the spot light focused in on Finn and Quinn, Brittany leaned over and whispered into Santana's ear that told her she voted for her.

After the Warblers finished singing the last song on the set list, Forever Young, the majority of the New Directions were confused as to why the all boy choir didn't seem to be leaving the stage. However, before they could contemplate it any further they heard the sounds of drums introducing a new song. Rachel immediately knew the number, seeing as how Puck had recently made it his life's goal to introduce her to every piece of music ever composed by a Jew. The girl shook her head, smiling at how totally inappropriate the song was. The Warblers organized themselves into two groups leaving the middle open. Puck appeared behind them and stepped through to grip the microphone stand. Finding Rachel's eyes in the crowd he smirked and then started:

_(Puck; _**Warblers**;_**Both; **_Blaine; **Blaine & Warblers****) **

_When I watch you, wanna do you, right where you're standing…__**yeah.**_

_Right on the foyer, on this dark day, right in plain view…__**oh, yeah….**_

_Of the whole ghetto, the boot-stomped meadows, but we ignore that, yeah. _

_You're lovely, baby. This war is crazy, I won't let you down…__**oh, no no….**_

_**No, I won't let them take you, won't let them take you…Hell, no no…**_

_**Oh, no…I won't let them take you, won't let them take you…Hell, no no… **_

_No, oh no, no, no…. _

_**And when our city, vast and shitty, falls to the Axis, yeah…**_

_**They'll search the buildings, collect gold fillings, wallets, and rings…oh, yeah. **_

_**But oh miss black eyeliner,**__ you'd look finer with each day in hiding, oh yeah… _

_Beneath the wormwood, _**ooooo**_, love me so good…_

_They won't hear us screw away the day._

_I'll make you say:_

"**Alive! Alive! Alive with love, alive with love tonight…"**

(_No, I won't let them take you, won't let them take you…Hell, no no…_

_Whoa, no…I won't let them take you, won't let them take you…Hell, no no…_)

"**Alive! Alive! Alive with love, alive with love tonight…"**

_Our Treblinka is alive with the glory of love…. _

**(Love Love Love)**

_Treblinka is alive with the glory of love! Yeah!_

**(Love Love Love)**

(_Ok, speed it up….Go!_)

_Should they catch us and dispatch us to those separate work camps,_

_I'll dream about you. I will not doubt you with the passing of time….__**Oh, yeah.**_

_Should they kill me, your love will fill me as warm as the bullets, yeah._

_I'll know my purpose. This war was worth this. I won't let you down…_

_No, I won't…._

_No, I won't…._

_No, I won't…._

Blaine, who had stopped dancing with Kurt so he could join his group midway through the song stepped out from the rest of the Warblers and nudged Puck who smiled and passed over the mike and walked off stage making his way over to Rachel who had been "dancing" with Artie.

(**Alive! Alive! Alive with love, alive with love tonight…)**

As Blaine sang the final lines of the song Puck took the girl's right wrist and twirled her so that she was facing him. He took her face in his hands and kissed her as if they were the only two people in the room.

Hell no no, oh no** (Alive! Alive!) **I won't let them take you, won't let them take you** (Alive with love, alive with love tonight) **Hell no, no, 

No, no!

When Puck and Rachel finally pulled apart for air they both had humungous smiles on their faces.

**A/n: I'm a total romantic at heart so obviously we had to have a happy ending - epilogue still to come. I know not everyone like's Say Anything's Alive With the Glory of Love, but I don't care it's one of my favorites so it had to be used. PS Lyrics to the song are not mine (obviously) they belong to the band Say Anything. **


	15. Epilogue

When John Arnold informed the cops that he had witnessed Thomas Harding attack Rachel Berry while she was running on Sunday morning, the authorities formally arrested the eighteen year old and charged him with assault.

Even though Tom's lawyer tried to bargain with the prosecutor handling the case, the attorney refused to accept any deal because she had such a strong case. Aside from Rachel, John would act as a witness. His testimony would not only include the assault on Sunday, but he would attest to being that Tom told him that he vandalized Rachel's locker, as well as those of eight other student, and that he smashed a brick through a window in the Berry house to intimidate her. Other evidence included Tom's DNA, which was found under Rachel Berry's fingernails from where she scratched him in her attempt to get away (the detectives had taken samples when they interviewed her at the Lopez residence) as well as on her running tank top and shorts, Tom's blood having been transferred onto them from when Rachel punched him in the nose. Although not as strong as the DNA and witness testimony, there were also two surveillance tapes being submitted into evidence: that of a hooded figure entering McKinley High School via the north side entrance and another of Thomas and Rachel Berry sitting outside the Lima Bean Wednesday afternoon.

The prosecutor was also going tack on a hate crime penalty enhancer due to the fact that Thomas physically attacked Rachel for no other reason than her religious beliefs. Realizing that the only way he could best serve his client under these circumstances, Harding's lawyer had to take the case to trial. He lost, of course – please, even if they had no evidence, once the jury got a look at Rachel's Bambi-eyes it was all over for the eighteen-year old. After he was found guilty, Rachel didn't stay for sentencing. Yes, she was glad Thomas Harding would be made to take responsibility for his crimes, but she took no pleasure in watching a family loosing a child to prison.

"Why didn't you stay for the whole thing?" Puck asked after he had found his girlfriend – they made it official two days after prom who had left the courtroom. Rachel was seated on the steps outside the courthouse.

"Hearing the guilty verdict was enough for me." Rachel shrugged. Deciding not to push the issue, Puck changed topics.

"So, you all packed for New York?" The New Directions were competing in three days.

"I've actually been backed for six days," she said sheepishly. Puck laughed.

"Of course you have." When he saw Rachel blush he added, "I love your crazy." Rachel smiled.

"It's not crazy, Noah, it's preparedness."

"Hey, crazy, prepared, I dig it." He said with his palms facing outward.

"That's very sweet, Noah."

The New Directions landed in New York Thursday at noon. Even though it was raining when they arrived in the Big Apple they all had smiles on their faces. The skies cleared up by three Mr. Schuester, accompanied by Coach Beiste – as if one man could handle chaperoning these kids – treated the kids to a red-bus sight seeing tour. Rachel went through an entire memory stick in one hour; she wasn't the only one. Although they did practice in one of the conference halls in the hotel, they spent the majority of the day before the competition begging and succeeding in getting Mr. Schue to let them do more sight seeing.

On the day of the competition Kurt did an amazing job with Mika's _Happy Ending_; it honestly sounded as if the New Directions was made up of fifty singers rather than just thirteen. Their second song was _Seasons of Love. _They had been afraid that another choir was going cover the song since it was just such a perfect show choir piece, but luckily they were the only group that decided to celebrate Jonathan Larson's brilliance. Then the New Directions closed with _Reach for the Sun _by the Polymorphic Spree. When they left the stage the McKinley students and their director were very proud of themselves. They advanced to the finals where Rachel performed _The Show Must Go On _by Queen and the entire group sang Arcade Fire's _Wake Up_. They were flawless; but so were the other finalists. Even though they didn't win, their third place trophy took the sting out of the loss.

END.

**Thank you to everyone who followed this story! You guys are amazing! PS If anyone knows RM tell him Lea Michelle MUST sing the Show Must Go On – that song was MADE for Rachel Berry. **


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